One Particular Moment
by Malmo722
Summary: Sherlock Holmes, an actor and Molly Hooper, a singer, meet at a crazy night of karaoke and must find a way to deal with her painful past, his crazy ex and the scrutiny of being in the public eye if they want to be together. AU. Lots of music, humor, romance, angst, fluff, some swearing and sexy time...you know, the good stuff.
1. Karaoke

**A/N: Hey everyone, this is my first Sherlock story. I'm pretty excited about it, I'm just gonna play around a bit and see where it goes. Please let me know what you think. **

**There's a lot of music in the fic and there will be links to all of it on my profile. I will explain what I am doing with the music at the end of the chapter. **

**My characters are very different than they are in the show so if you like your Sherlock Sherlocky and your Molly mousey this is not the place for you. **

**I'd like to thank my beta Midnight Angel414 for being awesome. **

**I hope you all like it.**

**I do not own any of these characters or songs. **

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**SHERLOCK**

I did not want to be here. I wanted to be in my hotel room trying to do my best to make a decent cup of tea. There was no such thing as a decent cup of tea in America no matter what any American said. I was here because after a week of asking, Jen had worn me down. She had already asked me to three different outings and I had declined every time, so to say no a fourth time felt rude. She also kept telling me that Molly was coming, like that was supposed to mean something to me, and that this karaoke filled night she had invited me to was going to be awesome because Molly was going to be there. Every time I asked her who Molly was she would change the subject or be pulled away from me by one of her handlers. So I had no idea whether Molly was a person or a drug. I hoped it wasn't the latter. I liked a good pint but drugs were not for me and I didn't want to fit into that Hollywood actor stereotype while I was on the verge of becoming a movie star.

I was sitting in a half lit karaoke bar somewhere in L.A. with Jen, her boyfriend Nick, my other co-stars Rooney, Ryan, Kristen, Donald and Jen's friends Joseph, Emma and her boyfriend Andrew. All actors, I didn't do well with other actors, too much ego. The bar wasn't very big and was taken up mostly by a massive stage at the front. The bar was to its left and the DJ booth to its right and then tables and chairs in every other available space. There was just enough room for the waitresses to walk around. Quiet top forty played in the background.

Everyone was on their phones, sipping their drinks occasionally while scrolling and tilting their screens to one another to show each other whatever it was they were looking at. I was about five years older than the oldest person there and my obsession with my phone wasn't as great as theirs. I turned it over in vain, in hopes that maybe someone texted me. To my surprise there was one from John, it was a picture of his new baby dressed up like my character from the television show I was in, _Downtowners_. I let out a laugh which caused Emma to look over. "What's so funny?" she said leaning over to look at my phone. I tilted it in her direction and she laughed when she saw the photo. "That's adorable. Is he yours?" She tugged at the collar of her Queen shirt as she settled back into her chair.

I shook my head. "No, no, he's my best mate John's son, Thomas."

"Well he's adorable," she said smiling and then holding her phone out to Ryan who was wearing a purple cashmere sweater with a low cut V that was a little too low cut for my taste, who was beside Rooney who was doing her best to imitate a Parisian beat nick in black leggings, an oversized black sweater and black beret.

Kristen was to Ryan's left wearing oversized, non-prescription glasses and a scowl. She was wearing a white t-shirt that was tied and knotted to one side of her abdomen and blue jeans. I was feeling insanely uncomfortable and decided to make some conversation. "Kristen you've worked with David before right?" I asked taking a large gulp of my beer.

She looked up, almost bewildered that I was speaking to her. "Yeah, yeah a long time ago; he'll work you to your breaking point and make you do a million takes and end up using the first one but he's brilliant." She gave me a quick smile before she leaned over to Donald and Andrew who were both wearing dark navy t-shirts and jeans. Joseph was sitting across from me in a burgundy crushed velvet suit and a bowtie running his finger round the rim of his glass.

"How do you know Jen?" I asked him.

He looked up at me, then to Jen and then back to me and said, "I met her through Molly."

"This Molly person, Jen has been talking about her all week. Who is that?" I asked him.

Just then Molly Hooper's song and latest single, "Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" came on. Jen, Nick, Kristen, Emma, Andrew and Joseph all picked up their glasses at once and shouted "Molly" and then took a drink.

"What the hell was that?" Donald asked.

"Every time we are in a group of people we have this tradition of cheering Molly if one of her songs comes on the radio." Jen said smiling, touching her hair again, still not fully used to its shortness.

"We started doing it to embarrass her but now it's something we always do," Joseph said drinking half his pint in one gulp.

I lifted my pint and finished it. I had drunk my first beer quickly so I could loosen up. I had spent a week in rehearsals with these people but I was no means a social person and the alcohol would be what got me through this. Then something clicked into place. "Is Molly Hooper coming here tonight?" I asked her trying to keep as calm as I could.

"Uh, duh! Lock, I've been telling you this all week. Don't you listen?" She sipped on her beer and grinned.

"She's awesome," said Emma who was sitting beside me. "We can request anything and as long as she knows the song, she'll sing it."

"Jen, there are thousands of Molly's on the planet, how could I possibly have known that?"

"What are you getting so fussy about? Chill out! You have a crush on her or something?" Jen smile widened as she adjusted her white blouse and smoothed the creases in her black dress pants.

"I am a fan. She has talent that's impossible to ignore," I said trying to catch the attention of the waitress.

"And she's beautiful," Joseph said to me without looking up from his phone.

"Yes, she is." I couldn't argue. Molly Hooper was beautiful. Not in an obvious way, just in a beautiful way. She was beautiful, that's just what she was.

I liked Molly Hooper's music. I owned all three of her albums, her last being her best, the breakup album. She was an outstanding musician, she knew how to play guitar, piano, violin among other instruments and her vocal talent was real, pure and not forced. She was known for her eclectic style of music and being able to master any genre she tried but she mainly stuck to the rock, glam rock, and folk genres. She was one of the few female musicians that didn't need to hide behind a bare midriff to make herself memorable. She had been one of the top musical acts for the last nine years and had won multiple Grammy's.

"I had no idea you were a fan, Lock. Although, I'm more shocked when someone doesn't like her. She's one of my best friends." She looked down at her hands, smiled fondly and then looked up at me, her smile turning into a devious one. "She's a fan of yours. She saw _Star Trek_ this summer and had a meltdown and rented all your movies and watched every episode of _Downtowers_ in, like, a day."

This comment, for some reason, made me more nervous instead of cocky or happy. I wondered if Molly knew I was going to be here. "Well, there are only six episodes," I said trying to sound witty.

"I'm pretty sure Molly won't be happy you told him that." Joseph threw his phone face down on the table and looked over at Jen who was casually playing with one of the strings on Nick's hoodie.

"Joe, the point of playing match maker is to nudge both parties along so they can realize how perfect they are for each other," she said to him like he was an idiot for not knowing this.

Joe turned his body towards her. "How do you know she wants to be matched?" He sounded slightly pissed off. I wondered if he and Molly had dated before.

"Look at him Joe! He's all attractive and angular and British. Molly loves that shit." She was pointing at me.

I leaned in slightly. "I can hear you both, you know that right?"

They ignored me. "Jen, I really think the last thing Molly needs is another British guy. The last one nearly killed her but you wouldn't know what she went through because you weren't friends with her then." Joe spat at her.

"Oh, so because you've known her longer you have some sort of monopoly on her friendship? You're the better friend?" Jen was leaning across the table. This was definitely going to end with a slap.

I slowly turned away from them and looked at the rest of the table who were all looking at me. "On a serious note though, when is _Downtowners_ coming back?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, he got me into this show and I need to know what happen to Tobias. Peter is going to be pissed when he finds out you're not dead," said Emma.

"We start filming season 3 right after I'm finished shooting here," I said, relieved when the waitress brought another pint.

"Are Peter and Tobias gay?" Donald asked. I couldn't tell if he was serious or joking.

"Are Troy and Abed gay?" I asked him.

His eyes narrowed at me. "Touché, Sherlock, Touché."

I tipped my glass in his direction.

Joe's phone buzzed which caused me to jump as he casually flipped it over reading the message quickly. He smiled and looked over at Jen. "She'll be here in 5. Her session ran late."

"Yay!" Jen yelled throwing her hands in the air. "I haven't seen her in so long." She got up and ran over to the DJ that was setting up for karaoke.

"Jen gets first dibs on what she sings," Emma leaned over to tell me.

"Do you all pick songs for her to sing?" I asked, curious as to how this evening was going to go.

Emma laughed and shook her head. "No, but it is fun to make her sing ridiculous songs and see if she can do it." She smiled and turned her attention back to Andrew.

I found myself getting nervous that she was going to be here. I was nervous not only because I now knew I was being set up with her, which made sense why Jen was so adamant that I sat where I sat but also because her talent intimidated me, made me nervous. Beauty was hollow, talking loud was a facade, flashiness a cover up but true talent could never be manufactured. You either had it or you didn't and it terrified me. I was afraid that my talents weren't true and that people with it would see right through me.

Joe's phone buzzed again and after a quick look he waved down the waitress again. "Have you ever seen her sing live before?" The crowd had tripled since we arrived and there were only three waitresses working. He managed to get ones attention and then ordered something.

I shook my head taking a sip of my pint. "I've always wanted to but I've never got the chance."

"It'll change your life," he said removing his jacket. It was becoming overly hot in the small space.

"I'm a big fan but how could it possibly change my life? It's just music," I said, laughing slightly.

"True talent changes lives. It makes you see the world in a new way even if it's only for a few minutes. You're an entertainer, you know," he said smiling looking over Kristen's shoulder as she showed him something on her phone.

The lights went down and a bunch of multi-colored spotlights came up all over the bar but most were aimed at the stage. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, are we ready to sing some kaarraaaookeeee!" The DJ had the perfect radio voice and everyone in the bar went wild. A tray full of shots were placed in the middle of the table and Jen's eyes went wide, her smile grew and she clasped her hands together as she stared over my head at the door. "She's here!"

I turned my head towards the door just in time to see Molly pull the pin that was holding up her hair from her head as a flash exploded behind her. No doubt the paparazzi that had followed us here were still out front. Her dark brown hair dropped around her shoulders in loose curls as she did a quick look around the bar before her eyes fell on me for just a moment and then up to where Jen was standing. Her smile widened and she ran towards the table. She had a slight limp, from her accident, but it was slight, almost non-existent, you wouldn't be able to tell if you weren't looking for it but I was. She was wearing tight, dark blue jeans, tan boots with a slight heel, a silk black and white polka dot shirt and a dark green blazer. She crashed into Jen as they embraced each other and broke apart to give each other a quick kiss on the lips. They separated themselves completely and started saying things to each other; based on their movements they were talking about the others appearance. The DJ was so loud I couldn't hear anything.

Molly removed her blazer and threw it in the empty chair next to me revealing her bare arms which were covered in tattoos. The parts of her skin that weren't covered in tattoos were very pale, an English Rose, my mother would call her, and gave Jen another hug. She walked over to Joe, gave him a hug from behind and a quick kiss on the cheek and then threw her phone on the table. She pointed to the shots on the table and motioned for everyone to take one.

"Molly, you sexy beast, where are you?" the DJ called and the bar went wild.

I had a shot in my hand that I think Emma had handed me and Molly raised her hand and put up one finger, then two and then a third and then everyone did a shot. I followed suit and cringed as the tequila burned on its way down. She slammed her shot glass on the table and looked up at me, looked mildly shocked and winked, then ran to the stage.

She hopped up on the stage with ease and threw her head back laughing. She was glowing in the orange haze of the lights but I could tell she wasn't wearing too much makeup, just some blush and mascara, and she was more beautiful in real life than in photographs. Not sexy or stunning or hot but beautiful. Even with all the tattoos and rock star persona, she was the type of girl you wanted to take on a date or take home to meet your mother.

She leaned forward spoke into the microphone. "Oh Christ, what did Jen pick?" Her voice was kind but not soft, it was firm, slightly self-deprecating and comical.

The title of the song appeared on the multiple screens and everyone went crazy again, included Jen. "Oh come on! Beyoncé right away, Jen?"

I leaned over and tapped Jen on the shoulder. "Is it always like this?" I yelled at her.

Jen nodded, laughing uncontrollable as "Single Ladies" started to play and Molly dived right in. She removed the microphone from the stand and started strutting around singing the song perfectly. The women in the audience were going crazy, hooting and hollering, cheering, looking at their boyfriends as she sung about putting rings on it.

She pointed at three people in the audience who were dancing what I could only assume was the choreographed dance from the music video. She pointed at them and motioned for them to come up on stage. She had been here for less than five minutes and she already had back up dancers.

I looked over a Joe who was smirking at me, that irritating 'I told you so' look and then nodded his head back to the stage.

He was right. She wasn't singing an important song, it had no strong message other than men should marry their significant others but I was enraptured purely because she wasn't even trying. This was her natural state; this was something I knew to be true. Everything she did in between was just time she killed before she could sing again and people were attracted to something true, something real.

She knew how to move her body to the type of music this was without looking clumsy or out of place. She knew exactly what she had and how to use it. It was impossible to take your eyes off her.

The song ended as abruptly as it had begun and the bar went crazy. She laughed as her hair lazily fell back into place and she turned to the dancers and hugged them, posing for a quick picture and then mumbled a quick thank you into the microphone as she carefully jumped off the stage and high fived the DJ.

"Next up is Ryan! Where is Ryan?"

Ryan got up and ran towards the stage. The women continued to lose their minds as he took his place on the stage and "Stuck in the Middle with You" started.

Molly ran by me and climbed into the seat next to me. She smelled sweet, perfumed but not sickeningly so. She leaned over me to kiss Emma on the cheek and shake Andrew's hand. She blew kisses at Kristen who introduced her to Rooney who she proceeded to talk to. My face was parallel with her hips. I stared at the milky white part of her midriff that had exposed itself and tried to figure out what tattoo was peaking up from the waist band of her jeans. I looked up to see Joe and Jen grinning me with knowing smiles and I forced myself to look somewhere else.

She quickly introduced herself to Donald and flopped down into her seat. She turned herself towards me and stuck out her hand. I took it and she pulled me in and yelled in my ear. "I'm Molly." She pulled back and smiled at me. It was a warm, kind smile. She was comfortable here, amidst the sea of alcohol, sounds, lights and chaos. She was home.

Everyone started cheering and I followed suit as Ryan came back to the table and some guy named Craig took the stage and began to butcher a cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody".

I took her hand again and put my lips to her ear. "I'm Sherlock but everyone calls me Lock."

I pulled away and she shouted. "It's nice to meet you, Lock. I like your show." She grabbed her beer and took a small sip. "And that space movie you were in." She smiled and leaned back in her chair. I smiled, knowing that she was playing it cool, pretending to have a mild knowledge of me when I knew she knew exactly who I was, unless Jen had lied.

Jen grabbed Molly's shoulder and started shouting something in her ear. Molly's eyes darted over the bar and then shot to me quickly and stayed on me for some time. I felt uncomfortable with her staring at me so I directed my attention to the stage and ordered another drink when the waitress passed.

I looked over at Emma and Andrew who had Molly's phone. "What are you doing?"

Andrew looked up. "Looking at all the songs on her phone. Apple made this phone special for her so it could fit all the songs she wanted."

"How many does she have on there?" I moved closer to see if I could see but I couldn't.

"30,000," he said smiling, shaking his head.

"Are you gonna make her sing something?" I asked smiling. The alcohol had calmed me and I was feeling better about being here, happy that I had come even.

"I'm not sure. I haven't found anything yet."

"Do you mind if I have a quick look at it?"

He shook his head and passed it to me. There was one song I wanted to sing but it was a duet and I would have to convince her to sing it with me. I was relieved to see she had the song on her phone. I smiled and looked in her direction to find her watching me with her elbows resting on her knees and her chin in the palm of her hands. "You gonna sing something?" She yelled.

I shook my head. "Ah… I don't know. I'm not much of a singer." Her brows knitted together and I tried to backtrack. "I mean I can sing, I just don't like doing it much."

"That's unfortunate because this little group is like _Fight Club_ and if this is your first time at karaoke then you have to karaoke." She smiled. "Ryan already went and it looks like Rooney and Kristen are going."

I looked over and saw the two girls run up onto the stage, they were singing a song about what boys wanted.

"So you have to sing."

"I have a song but it's a duet."

"I'll sing it with you. What is it?"

I showed her the song on her phone and her eyes narrowed and her mouth skewed. She stared at the phone from some time and then looked up at me. She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it; she did this a few more time before she grabbed my arm and pulled me up and out of my seat. She pulled me through the bar and into the kitchen.

The lighting was harsh and bright and it took me a couple of seconds for my eyes to readjust and fully take her in. She was about eight inches shorter than me and her hair was slightly lighter than it looked in the bar. She wasn't wearing lipstick but whatever chap stick she was using had a tint making her lips look red and full. Instead of her eyes being a deep brown they were more of an amber color. Her tattoos were bright and vivid; I was trying to make out what some of them were. She looked so different in real life, better.

I looked behind me. "Are we allowed in here?" I asked as the cooks looked at us.

"You understand what singing this kind of song would mean, right?" she questioned with crossed arms and paused, waiting to see if I was going to say something and then she continued. "It's not a very well-known song but it's romantic and _I_ will be singing it with _you_."

I stared at her waiting for her to continue but she didn't. "Oh, um, I see what you're saying; people could take it the wrong way. People could think that we are a couple."

"Right and you're famous and I'm famous so it's guaranteed that someone will film it."

"Do you really think someone will film it?" I never really thought about those kinds of things but now that she had mentioned it, it made sense why someone would film one of the most famous singers in the world and a famous actor singing a romantic song.

"Give me my phone." She held out her hand and I placed it in her palm.

She spent about a minute typing and then waiting and then turned the phone to face me. It was a YouTube video of the Single Ladies cover she just did. "This was like forty minutes ago," I said, pointing at the phone.

"This is the technological age and everything spreads like fire. I know you are famous but not like me, you don't understand how everything you do could have a crippling effect. Sorry if that makes me sounds like an asshole." She angled her body away from me, sounding almost ashamed.

"It's true," I said shrugging.

"I have no problem singing this song with you. I have been linked with every man I've ever been seen with but are you okay with that? Being linked to me?" She sighed and looked at me sympathetically. "I just don't want to ruin your career or make anything uncomfortable for you."

"How could you possibly ruin my career?" I asked, baffled.

"A lot of people wouldn't like to see an actor that carries the fandom that you do with what some people believe to be a turbo slut." She cocked her eyebrow. "People like me but only when I associate myself with people they think I should be associated with. You are not one of those people. You are kind and clean."

I stared at her and thought on it a moment. If anyone did link us romantically it could probably only help my career regardless of what she said and I honestly had no problem being romantically linked to her. She was the type of girl you wanted to be linked to. I smiled. "There are worse things than being romantically linked to you."

She grinned and nudged me in the arm with her shoulder. I could have sworn she turned a little red. "Okay, let's go sing this song. I'll let Dan know." She turned quickly and exited the kitchen and I followed.

She split off and went to speak to Dan and I went back to the table. Joe leaned over the table and shouted, "You convinced her to sing with you," he said smirking.

I nodded and stared at him feeling my eyes narrow. "You guys aren't together, are you? You seem really protective of her." I felt the need to be defensive with Joe. I couldn't tell if he actually didn't like me or if he disliked me because he knew I was someone that Molly might date. Either way I didn't feel right around him and if I was ever going to it would take some time. Or more alcohol.

Joe laughed and shook his head. "No. We tried to date but it didn't work. We work as friends but that's it but believe me I wish it did work out." I looked over at her talking animatedly with Dan then back at Joe. He was leaning closer to me. "If she likes you, don't fuck it up. She's been through too much shit to be jerked around. She'll change your life." I eyed him skeptically and nodded.

I went to look back over at Dan but she was gone and when I looked back she was sitting in Ryan's seat talking to Joe and Ryan was in her seat.

More shots were ordered and Ryan and I started talking about which Godzilla movie was best, the greatest directors, who we'd like to work with and how we thought the shoot was going to go. He thought there was going to be problems with the very subtle dark comedy laced throughout the script.

"It's funny but not funny enough to be marketed as a comedy. I guess we're going to have to wait and see how it turns out. What Fincher ultimately does with it." He reached across the table and took a pint from the group that had just been delivered.

"I'm excited to kind of play an airhead," I said laughing. "I have this face," I pointed at my face, "so I always end up playing villains or smart people or serious people. It'll be nice to act a little lighter but still know the material is good." I finished my pint and pushed the glass into the middle of the table and looked over at Molly who was talking very intensely with Kristen and Rooney and then turned back to Ryan.

"You get the roles I want. I'm too attractive so everyone keeps trying to get me to make The Notebook 2. I have to work very hard to make sure people forget what I look like." He looked at the phone that Jen placed in front of him and laughed and then looked back at me.

"I feel really sorry for you and your very attractive face," I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

He smirked and then started laughing. "I'm such an asshole."

We both started laughing when Dan's voice called mine and Molly's name. I stood up, sober enough to function normally but drunk enough to be okay with doing this. She led the way and sauntered up on stage and leaned into the microphone. "This is Lock's first time, so let's be gentle." A holler came from somewhere in the bar as she adjusted the microphone so that I she only had to crane her neck slightly and I would just have to slouch.

I saw the title of the song appear on the screen and a few more cheers came from our table and the song began.

We were facing each other. I stared down at her as she stared at my chest, raising her head to hum the first couple of chords.

Just as we were about to sing her eyes flicked up and met mine. The intensity of the look almost made me miss my queue as we moved towards the microphone and sang the first lines.

_I find the map and draw a straight line/Over rivers, farms, and state lines/The distance from 'A' to where you'd be/It's only finger-lengths that I see_

I could see her adjusting herself to my voice but I was also happy to see she wasn't disappointed. If anything she looked mildly shocked that I could sing as well as I could.

_I hang my coat up in the first bar/There is no peace that I've found so far/The laughter penetrates my silence/As drunken men find flaws in science_

She closed her eyes and took a step towards me.

_Their words mostly noises/Ghosts with just voices/Your words in my memory/Are like music to me_

Then she took another step towards me and grabbed my hand, lacing her fingers with mine just as the music picked up.

_I'm miles from where you are/I lay down on the cold ground/I, I pray that something picks me up/And sets me down in your warm arms_

It was at this moment I realized that the bar was silent. I took a moment to look away from her and quickly look around. No one was speaking or talking but every single person had their phones out aimed at us. I felt my breath hitch; I was used to being photographed. A paparazzi or two would follow me occasionally and I would pose for a picture with a fan when I was asked but I had never felt my privacy so violated before. I guess she had warned me.

_After I have travelled so far/We'd set the fire to the third bar/We'd share each other like an island/Until exhausted, close our eyelids_

When I turned back to look at her she was looking up at me, her eyes burning into me. Her eyes were sad, telling me I told you so. I was uncomfortable with the attention that she had been getting for almost ten years, relentlessly. Not being able to have a relationship, friendship, a simple day or night out without it being recorded, documented and pinned up for the whole world to see.

_And dreaming, pick up from/The last place we left off/Your soft skin is weeping/A joy you can't keep in_

She closed her eyes again knowing the music was about to pick up and took her other hand and wrapped it around my wrist pulling my arm against her abdomen. We sang the rest of the song like this. Toes touching, her arms wrapped around mine, her eyes closed, mine open as strangers filmed this moment together that felt so incredibly personal and hollow simultaneously.

The song ended and we were met with staggered but substantial applause. People needed time to put down their phones before they could clap for us. She pulled me off the stage and guided us back to our table only letting go of my hand when we sat down.

We looked at each other for only a moment before Jen grabbed her shoulder. "Oh my God you guys, that was amazing. You sounded perfect together." She was looking from Molly to me smiling widely. "Lock, I had no idea you could sing like that."

"Well, we've only know each other a week so…" I picked up my beer and finished it.

"That was seriously good," Joe said leaning across the table. "You should think about recording something together." His name was called by Dan and he ran up to the stage. He was singing "That Thing You Do."

"We should," Molly said taking a sip of her beer. "Record something together that is. Our voices did sound great together. If you'd want to get together and do that, I would start recording in a couple of months. So you can think about it later, if you're interested?" She took another sip as the waitress placed a fresh pint in front of me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I could be down for that."

I looked right at her and she smiled, it was warm and touched her eyes. It was the kind of smile that forced me to smile.

Her smile fell and she became very serious, "I'm sorry about what happened up there. I should have warned you, I get weird when I sing. I get really into it. If I made you uncomfortable grabbing your hand, I'm sorry."

The conversations in the bar were steadily growing back to what it was before we took the stage. "Why would I be uncomfortable?"

Her brow furrowed together. "Because we're strangers, Lock."

"For now," I said feeling strangely confident, smiling at her.

A smile of surprise spread across her face as she took her drink and took a sip. "You were really good up there. How could you not like singing when you sound like that?"

I shrugged. "It was never encouraged when I was growing up so I just never think to do it."

"Well you should." There was a long pause between us. "You know Jen is trying to set us up, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, her and Joe fought about it just before you got here."

"Really?! Wow, I really can't leave them alone together. Anyway, Jen tries to set me up with every British guy she meets so don't feel any pressure." She smiled and placed her hand on mine reassuringly.

"She did mention that you were a fan of mine, so I thought she was setting us up because you already liked me." More shots came, everyone did one but her.

"What did Jen tell you?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"She said you saw _Star Trek_ and then had a meltdown and watched everything I was in." I giggled. I was good and proper drunk now.

Even in the dark I could see her cheeks flush and her head whipped around to stare daggers into Jen. She went to open her mouth to yell at her when Dan's voice interrupted, "Jen, get your ass up here."

Jen smiled and ran away and jumped up on stage before Molly could yell at her. When Jen was on stage she looked in our direction. "Awe, don't be mad at me Molly. He's a big fan of yours too. You're both even." She smiled and pointed at Dan signaling that she was ready to start.

She was going to sing "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga. I looked back at Molly who was smiling, she looked at me. "She's delightful isn't she?"

"Charming," I said not being able to wipe the smile of my face.

"She suffers from foot in mouth disease. We contemplated putting her down but she just has the cutest face." She took another sip and looked up at the stage where Jen was dancing around, laughing when she was out of tune. Molly cupped her hands around her mouth and cheered as loud as she could and laughed, singing along, dancing in her seat.

I laughed at her and got up to go to the bar and asked for three waters. I was drunk and I needed to sober up. I downed the three pints of water, went to the loo, came back and drank three more and then went back to the table.

By this time Jen had finished singing and Nick was on stage singing his way through a Smiths song.

"Lock! Where were you?!" Jen shouted at me when I sat down. "I'm telling embarrassing stories about Molly!"

I looked over at Molly who was looking at me and made a motion of fake enthusiasm. She looked at Jen and motioned for her to continue.

"So, were at this party and Molly hasn't eaten anything all day." Donald, Ryan and Rooney were all listening in. "And I start handing her champagne and she keeps trying to get to the caterers and she can't cause she's Molly and everyone wants to talk to her. So, she's eating these shrimps because it's the only thing near her and I don't know if the shrimp was bad or if it was me feeding her all the alcohol but she threw up all over Bono. I laughed a lot." Jen started laughing along with everyone else, including myself.

"Did you actual do that?" I asked her.

She looked at me with her hands covering her cheeks in embarrassment and nodded. "He still won't speak to me."

I laughed even harder as Jen dived into another story. The rest of the night passed like this, everyone taking their turn to sing, me trying to sober up and failing, embarrassing stories. It was the most fun I had had in a very long time.

"Alright guys, Tiffany's up next and then the last song of the night. You lot sort yourself out while Tiffany sings," Dan said pointing at our table.

"What are we doing?" I asked as two of the waitresses were bringing pints to everyone at the table.

"Alright!" Joe shouted slamming his hand on the table. "For all of you that don't know, this is called Song Humiliation. We all get pints, the one who drinks it the fastest picks the song, the two that finish last have to sing whatever is picked. Everyone raise your pints….one…two…three…DRINK!"

I was slow to start and I picked up my pint and started drinking. I looked at Molly out of the corner of my eye who was looking at her phone and sipping her pint. She wanted to lose. Joe's glass slammed down first, then Ryan, Kristen, Jen, Nick, Emma, Andrew, Donald, Rooney and then me. I was last.

Everyone looked at me and started to laugh. "Oh Lock," Joe said. "I'm gonna have fun with this one. You are going to sing the verses and Mol you are gonna sing the chorus," He said pointing at her.

"Right-O" she said throwing her phone on the table beside her barely touched pint.

Tiffany's song had ended and Dan called for us. Joe ran towards the Dan's booth as Molly and I walked to the stage. I took a microphone and Dan passed me another one for her. She came up to me and smiled. "Whatever he's picked, just commit. It's supposed to be bad." She winked at me again and walked towards the opposite side of the stage and stared at one of the screens waiting for the title to appear.

My heart dropped when it did. "I hate you Joe," I said into the microphone as the first few notes of "Gangsta's Paradise" filled the room. The bar went insane and when I looked over at Molly she was grinning at me. I stared at her and decided to do exactly what she told me do, I committed. I put the microphone to my lips and instead of singing in a timid unsure voice I harnessed my inner rapper and threw down as they say.

_As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death/I take a look at my life and realize there's nothin' left/Cause I've been blasting and laughing so long/That even my mama thinks that my mind is gone_

If the bar was going nuts before it was about to combust after I started to sing. Every phone was out and there was not a single person who wasn't laughing or cheering. I looked over at Molly who was clapping with a shocked smile on her face. She looked impressed again and that look made me keep going, keep committing.

I took a step back when the chorus came and she stepped to the edge of the stage and threw her hand up and sang the chorus dead on. Engaging the entire bar who were all waving their arms the way she was.

The rest of the song passed in a blur as I did my best to finish as strong as I had started. Molly did what came naturally to her, interacted with me when it was appropriate and I made it through. When the song finished the applause was ear shattering. Molly stepped away from me and made a motion that all the applause should be placed on me, clapping and cheering herself. I looked over at our table and everyone was on their chairs hollering. I started laughing, bowed quickly and jumped off the stage. Now that the adrenaline was leaving my body I was slightly embarrassed.

Bills were on the table and money was thrown down. "Well done, sir," Joe said patting me on the back. "I did not think you had that in you." He was smiling at me. "You coming to Molly's?" he asked me.

"Molly's?" I asked slipping my jacket on.

"Yeah, my place, it's not too far from here and I have a functioning bar and no neighbors. You are more welcome to come because after that you are fucking awesome," Molly said pointing at the stage putting on her blazer. She reached into one of the pockets and tossed some keys to Jen. "I have to go get ice."

"I'll go with you," I offered taking a step towards her.

She smiled and nodded. "Sure." She turned to Joe. "Is everyone coming?"

I couldn't hear what he said but she nodded and then nodded to whatever Kristen asked her. She went up to Ryan and gave him a kiss and a hug and did the same to Rooney and then walked back towards me. "They are going to leave first and then us." She stood and looked at her phone and waited as everyone gathered their belongs and left. "There is it is," she said with a sigh and showed me the phone.

It was the video of us singing 'Set Fire to the Third Bar' and the headline read 'Are Molly Hooper and Sherlock Holmes an item?' I stood there, re-reading it with a furrowed brow. "Why three question marks?" I asked.

"What?" she asked me almost baffled.

"One question mark is enough, why three?" I shook my head. "Online journalists are the worst," I said turning the collar of my coat up.

She just started laughing, it was a real laugh, a belly laugh and she put her phone away. "Come on, new boyfriend; let's see how many paparazzo's were left for us." She moved forward and took the six steps she needed to take to get to the door. She threw it open, walked outside with me on her heels and we were greeted with a sea of flashes.

* * *

**So Molly is a famous singer in this story and since I am not musical at all, I cannot write songs for this fic and will be using songs by other artists as Molly's songs. Some of the songs are sung by men but let's pretend they are song by Molly. I am using the songs main because of the lyrics and also because I love them. **

**Songs: Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth – The Dandy Warhols**

**Single Ladies – Beyoncé**

**Stuck in the Middle with You – Stealers Wheel**

**Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen**

**I Know What Boys Like – The Waitresses**

**Set Fire to the Third Bar – Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright**

**That Thing You Do! – The Wonders**

**Born This Way – Lady Gaga**

**There's a Light that Never Goes Out – The Smiths**

**Gangsta's Paradise – Coolio **

**I hoped you all liked it and please review!**


	2. The Condo

**A/N: So here is the second chapter. Thanks to all the people who the read the first chapter, I hope you continue to like my fluffy fun little story. **

**Thanks to my beta Midnight Angel414. **

**I don't own any of these characters or songs. **

* * *

**MOLLY**

The group of paparazzi wasn't as bad as I thought it would be so I assumed the video of Sherlock and I wasn't common knowledge yet. Sherlock and I pushed our way through the ten paparazzi that were there and headed toward the corner store. "Are you just out for a night of karaoke, Molly?" A pap I had never seen before asked me. I looked over at him and nodded and then Ted, the pap who was always assigned to me asked a question, "and you're out with Sherlock Holmes. Is this a date?" he asked, smirking at me.

I smirked right back. "Why Ted, you jealous?" And then I turned and walked into the corner store I always went to.

Sherlock hadn't said a word; he just followed behind me and only started speaking once we were in the sanctuary of the store. He leaned up against the coolers as I looked at some of the energy drinks. "You can really hold your liquor, Hooper," he said, his deep baritone voice sounding even deeper in his drunken state. I looked up at him. His eyes were hooded and his smile was lazy and relaxed. I could tell he didn't normally do this, go out like this, drink this much. I smiled at him and shrugged. "I've had a lot of practice." I grabbed a drink without looking at it and headed towards the front of the store.

I could hear him stumbling behind me and I couldn't help but smile wider. I was going to kill Jen for doing this to me. I was physically attracted to Sherlock before I even met him and now that I was getting to know him, the attraction was growing stronger but I was cautious. I always would be after Jim. He was the reason I couldn't commit, found the flaws in every man I met, made myself find the excuses of why I couldn't be with them. So I decided to make sure Sherlock didn't think something was going to happen here until I firmly decided I wanted it to.

"Molly!" Steve, the sweetest old man who owned the corner store, shouted. "How was your tour?" He was in his late forties, rather large both in height and weight, balding but he was one of my favorite people. I had rarely met someone who was so genuinely kind.

"It was good, long and rewarding. It's always nice to see the way the fans react to the music." I smiled at him. Steve did everything to protect me. In the short time I had been coming to this store, a number of paparazzi and stalkers had waited for me on numerous occasions at this store and he had saved my ass more than once.

"Are you going to be sticking around for a little while?" he asked.

I nodded. "For a month or two. Don't worry, you'll see me again. How much do I owe you for the drink and some ice?"

"And this," Sherlock slyly put a Popsicle on the counter. It was in the shape of Spider Man's head and had gumball eyes.

I turned to face him with a quizzical look on my face. He stared at me with the most innocent look I had ever seen which caused my smile to reappear.

"I can't think of where my wallet is right now and I would very much enjoy one of those, so do you think you can get it for me and I'll pay you back?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at his shoes like he was ashamed. I couldn't help but laugh.

"That too Steve." I gave him a ten and told him to keep the change. I turned and handed Sherlock the Popsicle and then looked back to the entrance of the store where all the paparazzi were waiting. I looked back at Steve. "Do you mind if we use the back way?"

"Not at all my dear." He smiled and motioned for us to come behind the counter. I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug. "Thanks Steve. It's so good to see you again."

"Likewise." He smiled warmly at me and pushed me forward into the back. "You know the way."

I heard Sherlock thank him and follow me to a large metal door that I pushed open. It led to a hallway made of concrete that was dimly lit. The sound of the door slamming made Sherlock jump. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around eating his Popsicle. His dark curly hair was falling over his eyes as he looked around.

"Lock, there are not enough words to describe how precious you are right now." I took a step forward in the direction of my condo, laughing.

"Why? What did I do?" He bit into the Popsicle and moaned. "Jesus this is good. Do you want some?" he asked stopping, thrusting it in my direction.

I stopped and stared at it for a few moments and nodded. "Yes, yes I do." I leaned in and held his hand steady as I bit into the ice cream and moaned just like he did. "Fuck, that is really good but on a serious note, can you not find your wallet?" I asked as I continued to move forward and took my first right.

"It's in my pocket. I'm just lazy right now," he said quickly not letting me respond before he started speaking again. "You handled those paparazzi really well. How do you do that?"

I shrugged. "A lot of practice. It's just a part of my life now; it's the price I pay to get to do what I love." I smiled moving forward. "It's a price I would pay a million times over to continue to sing. It's the most important thing in my life and in the long run a few rumors and photos will mean nothing." I meant every word I said. I did hate having every aspect of my life analyzed and critiqued under a microscope but it was such a small price to pay in the end. I knew I was talented, I believed in my music, and I knew that when I was looked back on the music would be what spoke for me, not what guy I dated or if I looked fat in a dress or if I made a fashion faux pas. They would talk about my voice when I died and knowing that I could share it with all the people I could made every single photo, every single rumor, every single hateful thing ever said about me worth it.

"Well, I'm glad you can handle it because the music industry needs people like you. I know this is going to sound stupid but I'm so happy I've never seen your midriff before. You want the rest of this?" He stuck his arm out and I took what remained of the Popsicle.

"I have been told that before. I just never really understood why I had to dress like a Victoria Secret model to be a singer. If I was good enough then it shouldn't matter. I can't tell you how many people have tried to put me in a bodysuit or a bikini or bra and panties. I can't handle it. What I look like naked isn't anyone's business other than my own and the people I choose to share it with." I took another right and started climbing a set of stairs. "Sorry if that was a little ranty," I said looking back at him

He shook his head. "My sexuality is a huge part of my job because there is such a fandom built around _Downtowners_ but that was something that happened to me. Being a woman it's expected of you." He grasped my shoulder and pulled me around to face him. "But you _are_ sexual but not in an obvious way. You don't show sexuality but you exude it. Your music, especially your first two albums are highly sexually and some of the looks you can give in your music videos." He ran his hands through his hair and blew out air, shaking his head, "It's so much more erotic than rolling around with no clothes on. That is selling your body, which is what most of these girls are doing, what you are selling is the sexuality of the song. You're brilliant."

I stopped and stared at him at awe. "Jen wasn't lying. You really are a fan."

He looked back and nodded. "Your last album got me through my last breakup."

"It got me through my last breakup too." I laughed, staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

He stared at me, his eyes darted to my leg and I knew he was itching to ask me. Everyone wanted to see it, wanted to ask me about it and this was the moment I usually lost interest in people, when their curiosity meant more to them than how I might feel about them asking to see a scar that was loaded with questions. Instead he looked away and said, "How do we get out of here?" He was tipping back slightly.

I stopped and put my hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

He looked at me and smiled. "I'm just drunk and tired. I don't normally stay up this late." He rubbed his eyes.

I handed him my energy drink. "Here have this. The night isn't quite over yet." I felt myself blushing and I didn't know why. I tried to remember when a boy made me feel like this last and I pushed the thought away. I didn't want to think about the last boy that gave me butterflies for no reason. Fuck British accents, I was going to kill Jen.

"Where are we? What is this?" he asked again looking around like he got a second wind after his first sip of the energy drink.

"This is a night of firsts for you isn't it?" I asked him. He just stared at me and when I realized he wasn't going to answer I continued. "Pretty much all of L.A is connected in one way or another. I've been whisked out and taken through the craziest places to avoid the paparazzi and this is one of those ways." I turned and pushed open the door that led out just beside the side door of my building. I opened the door to the vestibule and pushed the buzzer.

"Hello?" Scott's scratchy voice said.

"Hey Scott, its Molly." I turned and waved to the camera in the corner of the small vestibule.

I heard the sound that meant the door was opened and pulled. We walked through the foyer and I gave Scott a wave. "Hey Scott, can I borrow you for your key card?" He nodded and came around the counter to wait with us after I pushed the button for the elevator.

"This is a nice building," Sherlock said looking around, finishing the energy drink. "That was awful," he said handing me the can. I stuck the Popsicle stick in it and nodded.

"Yeah, they suck but they do help keep you awake. At least for me they help." The doors opened. I stepped in pushing the button to the penthouse and Scott swiped his key card making the light go green and the doors started to close. "Thanks Scott," I said quickly before the doors closed all the way.

We were silent for a couple of moments before he decided to speak. "I don't normally get this drunk," he said to me with his hands behind his back rocking slowly on his heels as he stared at the ceiling. His face was gorgeous, beautiful porcelain skin, electric blue/green eyes with flecks of gold, full lips, and cheekbones that could cut glass.

I looked at him and smiled. "I know you don't normally get this drunk. I know an alcoholic when I see one." He looked at me with that look again, that look of knowing half of the story and dying to know the rest of it but yet again he just nodded and asked me, "Have you lived here long?"

"Not very long. I bought it about a year ago but I've been on tour for ten months of that year so it doesn't really feel like home yet."

"But you had a bar installed."

"Naturally," I replied with a side smirk at him as the elevator doors opened to my penthouse condo. He pushed himself off the elevator wall and walked in with me. There was way more people in my place than I expected. Kristen had told me that she had invited Rob but it looked like Rob had invited Katy and Katy had brought Ri, and Taylor was in town so Emma had invited her. Rob, Katy, and Kristen all turned to look at me at once. Katy threw her arms up in the air and squealed, "Molly!" and hugged me tight giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. I stuck my hand out that had the ice in it and Jen weaved through the crowd to take it from me. I felt Sherlock's hand come up and wipe the lipstick off my face. "I haven't seen you in forever. How was your tour? I saw you in London and you were stupid good. You have no idea how much I hate you, your voice and your musical talent," she said winking at me.

"Well, you got the tits Katy, you can't have it all." I said playfully grabbing her breasts before I moved passed her to greet Rob with a swift hug and an exchanging of pleasantries. Kristen pushed passed him and grabbed my hands. "I hope you aren't mad they're all here."

I smiled and shook my head. "No, don't worry about it." I looked up at and whistled, "Hey listen up everyone! If you never been to my place these are the rules. One, if you are asked to sing you have to. Two, if you want a drink the fridge is there and the bar is there, get it yourself. Three, all cigarettes and weed must be smoked on the balcony. Four, if you want to do a hard drug of any kind, get the fuck out. I don't allow that shit in my home and finally have fun." Everyone cheered and I walked towards my bar.

I went around and pulled out a pint glass and looked up. Sherlock was sitting on the other side with a very pleased smile on his face. "What do you have on tap, bar maiden?"

"Bar maiden?" I said, laughing, placing the pint glass on the bar. "Well, Mr. Holmes, we have Canadian, Budweiser, and Guinness but I think I know what you are going to say so I will just start pouring you a Budweiser." I put the glass up to the tap and he placed his hand over mine to stop me.

"You're hilarious but I will have a Guinness please. You know how to pour a Guinness proper, right?" He looked at me with eyes filled with doubt.

I smiled and started to pour until it was time to let it settle. "Of course I know how to pour a Guinness."

"How come you have a bar in your condo?" he asked me, removing his black jacket and throwing it on a chair in the corner of my living room. He straightened out his dark gray t-shirt that hugged his body perfectly and pulled up his black jeans, from the looks of it he hadn't lost any of the muscle he put on for _Star Trek_.

I waved him over behind the bar. "See this smaller bar that the larger bar is built around?" I asked, looking from the bar to him. He looked up at me and nodded. "That was a part of the bar that was in the pub that my grandparents owned in London."

"Ah, so your family is from England?" He smiled.

I finished pouring him his Guinness while I nodded. "Yeah, well my dad's side is. My grandparents and my dad are from London." I handed him the pint glass and poured myself a quarter glass of Canadian.

"It would be really easy for you to get British citizenship." He took a sip and made a sound of satisfaction.

"I already have British citizenship." I looked up at him and took a sip of my own beer. "It's easy to get one when you're married to a Brit." My eyes darted away from him feeling uncomfortable for bringing up my marriage. If I brought it up that meant that other people could ask about it so I wanted to change the subject as quickly as I could. "So do you want a tour of my place?" I asked looking around, already Ri and Katy were singing 'Your Body Is A Wonderland'.

He nodded and shot a quick look at Joe, Kristen, and Rob who were all watching Ri, and Katy and then to Jen, Nick, Taylor, Emma, Andrew, and Donald were all sitting around my dining room table playing a game of Kings. "So this is my living room and kitchen area," I said moving my arm around like Vanna White. My condo wasn't special, open concept, dark hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances; it was furnished entirely by my personal assistant, Sally. It was good enough for Los Angeles because all I did was have people over when I was here. It was impersonal and functional.

We walked down the hallway and I showed him the bathroom, my bedroom, and the guest bedroom which led to the last room, my music room. "This is my favorite room," I said looking back at him. "Well, this is my favorite room in all my places. I'm in here a lot." I sat down at the piano and let my fingers run over the keys. I looked over at him as he leaned against the piano. "What is your favorite song? Of mine I mean." I needed to stroke my ego, no matter how down to earth I thought I was I was still a performer and the narcissism that came with that reared its ugly head sometimes.

He ran his hand through his hair making it even messier and more adorable. "That's a tough question." He stood there actually pondering it. "I would have to say I'm a purist and 'Ship of Fools' is my favorite." He nodded a few times, "but I also love 'Red Red Red'. The way you sing it, it sounds like you couldn't have sung anything else at that moment." He looked at me with a look on his face that suggested he wasn't accurately describing what he was trying to say. "It's hard to explain, it sounds like your sadness was bleeding from you at that moment and you wouldn't be able to sing anything else even if you tried because it wasn't just a song. It's you and your emotions and trying to contain something like that is impossible." His face was flushing. He was embarrassed and I was amazed. In all my years of talking to people about music he was the first one to describe exactly how I felt when I sang.

I felt a heavy feeling in my chest when he brought up that song. There was so much negative emotion in that song that I rarely sang it. I couldn't out of fear of losing control of my emotions. "It took me four days to record 'Red Red Red'." I paused and my hands naturally played the first few notes. "I had signed my divorce papers the day I had to record it and for the first two days I did nothing but cry." Those first few notes turned into something else as I focused on the notes and not on what I was saying. "They kept asking me to move on to something else but I couldn't. That was the time to record that song because I was so sad and that song is such a miserable song. I mean, it's beautiful but there is so much sadness there that if I listen to it now I feel like I'll be choked by the misery and hopelessness I felt then." I stopped playing abruptly and looked up at him. I could feel myself blushing. "She said to the stranger." I very rarely opened up to anyone about my divorce or my relationship with my ex-husband but it was like I couldn't stop myself, he understood how music felt for me and that made me want to trust him.

He looked sad but there was a difference in the way he looked at me and the way most people looked at me when I did open up about my marriage to Jim. He didn't pity me or want to save me, he was just sad that I had felt sadness. Everyone wanted to save me, I was a victim or so the papers said.

"I don't really think we're strangers anymore, how about acquaintances?"

I smiled, "I think someone who understands music like that can be my acquaintance, maybe we'll be friends by the end of the night, if you play your cards right." I swung my legs over the piano bench and he sat down beside me.

"So... what's your favorite movie of mine?" he asked, nudging me with his elbow. "Since I know you have, like, totally seen them all." He did his best valley girl impression while rolling his eyes.

I nudged him back. "I do not sound like that." I felt myself flushing again. I cursed my pale skin and knew that I was definitely showing the redness in my cheeks and he could see it.

"No, you don't sound like that. It's nice to hear an American girl that doesn't sound like a total idiot." He grinned at me.

I sighed. "Well, you're gonna have to keep looking for an American girl that doesn't sound like a total idiot because I'm not American." I saw his brow furrow and I laughed. "I'm Canadian."

"American, Canadian it's all the same," he said dismissing me.

"Excuse me? It's similar but not the same. You're from England right?" I asked him trying to catch his eye.

"Yeah," he said before he took a huge gulp of his Guinness.

"Well, English or Welsh, it's all the same right? You might as well be Scottish," I said grinning.

He paused and was thinking about what I had said. "Okay, I see how that could have offended you." He laughed and he smiled wide. His smile was crooked and I found myself staring at him and his gold flecked eyes and I had to shake myself out of it before he noticed me staring. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question, what is your favorite film of mine?"

I breathed in deeply and made my face look like I was thinking deeply about it. I turned my face towards his and smiled again, it seemed like I always smiling till my cheeks hurt with him and then the butterflies would return and I would have to stop for a moment and worry because I had only met him seven hours prior. "_Tinker Tailer_ has to be my favorite movie you were in. You were good in it; everyone was good in it, such a quiet but powerful film. Oh and _12 Years a Slave_ made me cry like a baby, I really liked that one but _Star Trek_ is a lot of fun and your physicality is very nice in that movie-"

He cut me off, "Physicality?" he questioned.

I closed my eyes and smiled an embarrassed smile. "You were hot in _Star Trek_." I didn't open my eyes because I didn't want to see the pleased smile on his face. "But if I had to pick my overall favorite, I am a _Downtowners_ fan to the core, that's my favorite." I finally opened my eyes and looked over to find him staring at me. All the humor had gone from his face and the way he was staring at me told me he was going to kiss me and I felt the fear rise in my chest. Not because I didn't want him to kiss me but because I wanted him to and that terrified me. The last man I wanted to kiss nearly killed me.

All I had to do was let go. A kiss was just a kiss; it didn't mean we were in love. People kiss all the time but I wasn't people and I didn't kiss just anyone. I could feel his breath on my face, he smelt like beer and tequila and I felt myself leaning in, my fear trying to pull me in the other direction but in the that particular moment I decided, that just for tonight, I would get lost.

My top lip had just brushed his when Joe barged in like a large clumsy animal. "Molly how much vod…." he trailed off as he pushed open the door and saw what he was interrupting. Sherlock moved away from me quickly and he did not hide the look of annoyance on his face when he turned his attention to Joe.

"What do you need Joe?" I asked him looking past Sherlock.

His eyes were wide and questioning. He would have a lot of questions for me. "I just wanted to know if you had anymore vodka?"

"I bought two 750ml bottles, how could you possibly need anymore?" I asked him, annoyed.

"We are playing a game and everyone needs five shots?" He shrugged like I was crazy to ask him why he needed that much alcohol.

"Where are you getting that many shot glasses?" I looked at Sherlock and then back at Joe. "I cannot do math that fast."

"55, you'd need 55 shot glasses, 65 if both of us were playing whatever game they are playing," Sherlock said looking at the floor.

"Yeah, what game are you playing?" I said putting my pint glass to my lips and finishing the beer in the glass.

"We're playing the age old drinking game called, 'Who can drink five shots of vodka the fastest?'" He grinned like an asshole. This was the reason that we would never work as a couple. He was insanely jealous.

"Of course you are," I said laughing.

"We've used all the glasses we can find."

"Of course you have."

Sherlock finished his Guinness and stood. "Do you mind if I pour myself another?" He looked down at me with a slight smile.

"No, go ahead. Maybe you should try a Canadian this time." I smiled.

"Maybe I will." He turned and passed Joe who had walked more into the room. He nodded at him. "Joe."

"Lock," Joe said back to him and then his eyes locked on mine after Sherlock had cleared the room. I knew he was in the kitchen as he was greeted by a chorus of cheers and hellos.

"You're all going to kill yourselves drinking that much," I said rolling the pint glass around in my hands.

"What was that, Molly? You just met that guy." He sat down beside me.

I sighed and threw my arm up in annoyance. "I don't understand why this is any concern of yours. Shouldn't you be happy that I might be trying to move on? I was just going to kiss him, we weren't exchanging wedding vows." I shook my head and looked away from him. "You treat me like a child."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "I know, I know. I just worry about you. I can't see you go through another Jim."

"They won't all be like that, not every man is Jim. You can't protect me, Joe. Not from everything." I smiled and hugged him.

"I'm not jealous, you know," he said as he kissed my hair.

"Uh-huh," I said mockingly as I ran out of my music room and into the dining room area where everyone was crowded around my dining room table. Joe came up behind me sliding on the kitchen tiles and bumping into me, laughing.

"She doesn't have any more vodka," he said placing the bottles on the table.

"Who gives a fuck, we're playing kings again," Ri said as she shoved over to give half of her seat to Joe.

I looked around the table for Sherlock and didn't see him immediately. It was when I saw the beer case box on the head of someone who matched his body I realized what happened. I laughed and walked up to him as he looked up at me. "I drew a six."

"You're box head," I said laughing. He moved over offering me half of his chair. "I was box head for 45 minutes one game. It's not fun."

"Molly, it's your turn," Rob said, lightly touching my hand.

I reached into the pile and drew a six. Jen started laughing immediately pointing at me with her stupid but intoxicating laugh.

"I fucking hate this game." Sherlock took the box off his head and placed it on mine. I looked at him through the little hand slot.

"You look cute," he said adjusting my hair around my shoulders.

I looked up at Jen who was pointing at Sherlock and making kissing motions. I put my hands out in disbelief. "Jen, he can see you."

"You are not very good at the subtlety bit are you?" he asked sipping his beer.

"Well, you like each other don't you?" she asked, annoyed, doing a shot. I was so happy the box was on my head so no one could see me fucking blush, again. I looked over at Sherlock who was hiding half of his face in his hand. He turned away from the table and looked at me. He was blushing too. "I don't understand what the big deal is if I say it out loud."

"Because Jen, it's something we may want to come to on our own. So please stop; it's one thing to embarrass me but don't do it to him. It's not fair." Joe handed me a bottle of beer and I twisted the cap and threw it on the table. "I fucking hate box head." I tried to adjust the box to I could get the tip of the bottle to my mouth.

"Sorry." She was blushing, I had embarrassed her. "Lock, it's your turn."

He drew a card, a six. "You have to be fucking kidding me." I couldn't help but laugh as I took the box off my head and placed it on his.

"You look cute," I said smiling like an asshole.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha, you're funny," he said angling his glass at me. I clinked his glass with my bottle.

I let a few moments pass then said, "I'm glad you came," smiling again, feeling the butterflies, the fear and wondering if I could do this, if I could get lost again for more than one night.

"Molly, drink 4," Emma said looking at me. I lifted my beer to my mouth and drank 4.

"I'm glad I came too." I couldn't tell if he was smiling because he had a beer box on his head but I liked to think he was.

We carried on like this until I had had five beers and had to tap out. "I'm out, I can't drink anymore," I said standing and walking into the living room area.

"I have to go too," said Donald.

"Us too." Emma, Andrew and Taylor all stood.

"We should probably head out too," Rob said, quietly grabbing Kristen's hand.

I nodded. "Thank you all for coming." I smiled as they collected their things and headed to the elevator. Hugs and kisses were given and I told them to ask Scott to call them cabs and use the back entrance.

I went to the kitchen where Jen was as Ri, Katy, Nick, Joe, and Sherlock started to sing karaoke again.

"I'm sorry I was an asshole tonight," Jen said handing me another beer.

"It's okay," I said smiling.

"So you aren't mad at me that I invited him? I just think you need to get back out there." She was looking right at me; I knew she was actually concerned.

"No, I'm not mad. He's handsome and funny and adorable and I see myself liking him but -" I ran my hand through my hair.

"No, no buts, there is always a but. Do you like him?" She moved closer to me and placed her hands on my thighs.

"Jen," I placed one of my hands over hers.

"Molly, do you like him? If he asked you out on a date would you say yes?" Jen's face was kind. She was so beautiful, so genuine, so lovely. I was so happy she was my friend even if she did drive me crazy half the time.

I looked over at Sherlock, he was singing 'Let's Dance' with Ri. He was laughing while he was singing and looked in my direction. I felt myself smiling. "Yes, I can see myself dating him. I mean, I would like to get to know him better."

"Then I don't see what the problem is Molly. Don't you think it's time? It's been three and a half years."

I whipped my head around felt my expression darken. "I know how long it's been Jen."

She sighed, "Molly, I just want to see you happy. Maybe get some? Maybe? Some sexy time?" She was trying to make me laugh.

"It has been a long time," I said avoiding eye contact.

"Like how long?" she said trying to catch my gaze. I looked up at her through my lashes. She started shaking her head and backing away from me. "No, no! Please tell me you've had sex with someone, anyone else since your separation."

I skewed my lips and slowly looked up at her. "It never felt right with anyone else."

"Molly, how did I not know this?" she cried in disbelief.

"You never asked." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"You're practically a virgin again."

"Jen, it's been three and a half years since we separated and two and a half years since the divorce. He wasn't some guy, he was my husband, my first love. I just can't rebound from that the way you want me to. I'm trying. I didn't leave him because I stopped loving him, I left him because he was destructive and…" I knotted my hands in my hair and pulled making a noise of frustration. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." I shook my head and took a long drink of my beer.

There was a long silence between the two of us. "Has he tried to contact you lately?" she asked me quietly.

I shook my head. "Not a thing for seven months. It's hard to find me when I'm on tour. The last I heard he was having lunch with Selena, so whatever the fuck." I finished my beer and placed the bottle on the counter.

"Molly, you will always love him and that's fine but don't think you owe it to yourself to find your next great love?"

"No one has ever made me feel like Jim did, the night we first met, I knew. I question and doubt everyone I meet." I rubbed my hands with my face feeling exhausted but happy that I could talk to her. As stupid as it sounded girl talk worked. I always saw things a little clearer after speaking to her.

"You question everyone you meet because of what he did to you. Maybe there is someone out there that can make you feel better than when you were with Jim. Yeah, it started out great but it ended with you in the hospital and a restraining order against him. Maybe you should think about something other than how you feel just at the beginning. Sherlock might be that guy. He likes you." She brushed my hair behind my ear.

"Sherlock did give me butterflies tonight. He is different. He could have asked me about my scar, about Jim but he didn't." I half smiled at her. "He also understands music. He's musical and that's a huge plus for me."

"Just go on a date, maybe two and see how you feel. If it feels like it's going too fast for you, tell him and if he turns out to be an asshole at least you tried and if he turns out to be the amazing guy I think he is then…" She smiled at me and I jumped off the counter and gave her a hug.

"I'll ask him for his number before he goes." I walked past her and pulled a bottle of water out of my fridge and chugged half of it. "How are you?" I asked leaning against the counter now.

"I'm so fucking happy all _The Hunger Games_ promotion is done. I'm exhausted and I won't get a break because it's Oscar season and apparently I'm talented or something." She waved her hand dismissively. "I probably won't sleep again till March," she whined, taking a long sip of her beer.

"I like your hair," I said wrapping my arms around her and resting my head on her shoulder. "You're so purdy." I could hear her laughing and then I remembered something. I raised my head and moved away from her lifting my shirt to show her my ribs. "I got a tattoo for you."

She leaned in to look at my ribs, in fancy handwriting it said, _My Girl on Fire_ and all around that were flames. She moved away from me with a shocked look on her face. "Mol… I… what if we break up?" she asked, hugging me.

"You know me and tattoos. I love you so much Jen, even when I don't show it." I hugged her tightly.

She pulled back and kissed me. "I love you too. That's so incredibly nice and awesome and amazing. I love it." She smiled widely.

"Molly!" I turned to see Katy leaning over one of my couches. "You have to come and sing."

"Ah, I don't really feel up to right now guys," I said breaking away from Jen.

"It's the rules Molly," she said smiling. "If it makes you feel any better I didn't choose the song, Lock did."

I looked up at him, smiled and walked into the living area. "You picked something for me to sing?"

He put his hands behind his head and nodded slowly.

I walked over to the karaoke machine and picked up the microphone. I was happy almost everyone was gone. "Let's see what Lock has chosen for me." I looked over at the screen and felt my mouth open. "Holy shit, you picked an actual song." I said looking over at him. "You don't want me to parade around you want me to actually sing, a song I love no less."

He grinned and nodded his head with his eyes closed. "I just want to hear what your voice sounds like when you sing this song."

I closed my eyes and let myself feel the song. I let it become a part of me so I wouldn't be able to sing anything else other than 'Lover, You Should Have Come Over', just like Sherlock had described. I sang this song for him.

I didn't feel the time past but when I opened my eyes I was breathing heavily. I locked eyes with Sherlock first and then everyone else. They were just staring at me in awe. That look never got old and when I looked a Sherlock again I realized that he was breathing as heavily as I was. "That was amazing," he barely managed to breathe out.

"Well, fuck, I hate you so much," Katy said getting up and coming over to hug me. "Ri and I have to go. It was so nice to see you." She gave me another kiss on the cheek and I showed her and Ri out.

I collapsed on the couch next to Sherlock. "I'm fucking exhausted," I said leaning my head back. He rubbed Katy's lipstick off my face again. I angled myself towards him without even realizing I was doing it.

"Let's play who can drink five shots of vodka the fastest?" Joe said carrying a bunch of cups and glasses as Jen followed behind with the vodka.

"I'm out and how about you play, "Who can drink three shots of vodka and leave Molly's place the fastest?"

"Are you kicking us out?" Jen said shocked.

"Yes."

"Do one shot," she pleaded.

I nodded and they poured me one and poured each of themselves three. I did mine and watched as they did their three using someone's beer as a chaser.

"Okay, I'm gone," Joe said standing and running to the elevator and pushing the button. I followed him and Jen clumsily gathered her things with Nick's help.

"Be safe," I said hugging him.

"Likewise, do you need a condom?" he asked guffawing, pointing at me with a cocked eyebrow.

I pushed him onto the elevator. "Fuck off."

Jen passed me and kissed me deeply on the lips. "Call me tomorrow and tell me everything. Kiss him tonight; he looks like a good kisser." I couldn't help but laugh as she slurred her words together.

Nick kissed me on the cheek, "Thanks for everything tonight."

"No problem, Nick. Take care of her, please." He nodded as he stepped onto the elevator and the doors closed behind him.

I looked over at Sherlock who was looking at me. I closed some of the distance between us and crossed my arms. "Can I call you a cab, Lock?"

"Yes, please." He stood and walked towards me.

"Where are you staying?"

He stopped and stared at me as his eyes widened. "Oh fuck, I can't remember where I'm staying." He put his hand in his hair and gave me a look that said 'help me' and then he started laughing hysterically.

I could have just texted Jen and asked her where he was staying but instead, "You can just stay here," I said shrugging.

He straightened up and stopped laughing. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I have the spare bedroom and I think I have some pajamas you can wear. Hold on," I turned and ran to my bedroom. I walked into my closet and grabbed an old pair of Jim's pajama bottoms. When I returned he was gone and his clothes were on the floor. "Lock?"

"I'm in here."

He had found his way into the guest bedroom and was faced down on the bed in his boxers. "This bed is amazing."

"It is nice." I nodded slowly and held out the pajamas. "Would you like to put some pants on?" I was trying my hardest not to laugh.

He stood and took the pajama from me and very carefully put them on. He had definitely kept all the Star Trek muscle and I had to force myself to look away and suppress a smile.

"You are very magnotic, Molly Hooper," he said pointing at me and lying down on the bed.

"Magnotic?" I said, feeling my brow furrow in confusion.

"I started to say magnetic and then switched to hypnotic half way through." He got under the covers.

"Grool," I said to him smiling and running to the kitchen to grab a bucket. "Just to be safe, here is a bucket. Please puke into this if you feel like puking."

He groaned and rubbed his face into the pillow. "I've fucked up my first impression, haven't I?"

I laughed. "No you're fine. Now sleep."

I shut off the light and closed the door. I sighed as I looked around at all the mess in my condo and then smiled knowing all the happiness it had caused. I gathered up his clothes and threw them over by my washing machine and went into my bedroom.

It was 5:45 am and the sun was coming up. I drank a few glasses of water and took some advil. I took a quick shower, slipped into bed and fell asleep thinking about dark brown curls and haunting blue green eyes.

* * *

**So what did you all think? Drunklock is always fun.**

**Sherlock's career is going to parallel Benedict's. Like I said some of the songs that Molly sings are actually sung by men but let's pretend that they aren't cause I can't write songs. **

**Songs: Your Body is a Wonderland – John Mayer**

**Ship of Fools – World Party**

**Red Red Red – Fiona Apple **

**Lover, You Should Have Come Over – Jeff Buckley **

**All these songs are so amazing and on my profile if you want to listen. Red Red Red is heart breaking and Lover, You Should Have Come Over is just so beautiful. Ship of Fools is always my favorite song ever so…. **

**Anyway, I hoped you all liked it and please review. **


	3. The Morning After

**A/N: A thank you to my beta Midnight Angel414. **

**I do not own any of these characters or songs. **

* * *

**SHERLOCK**

I knew I was in an unfamiliar place before I opened my eyes. It didn't smell like my flat in London and it didn't smell like a hotel room either. It smelled like a home, a woman's home and then I remembered, well I remembered what the alcohol allowed me to remember.

The night flooded back to me in flashes. Karaoke, beer – lots of beer, tequila, Molly, her lips, her hair, her tattoos, her smile, her voice. I remembered the rapping, good God I had rapped, in front of people. Talking to Molly about music, her ex-husband, her English family, Canada, she was Canadian. Briefly interacting with celebrities I never thought I'd ever meet, beer – so much beer and Molly.

I flipped over in the bed and let my bare arms and back rub up against the soft sheets. This when my hangover hit me full force and I closed my eyes tighter hating myself for getting as drunk as I had. I tried to think about how much I had to drink and then I heard it, the violin.

I forced my eyes open just a crack and looked towards the door which was closed. I let my eyes scan the room. It was finely furnished but it was clearly done by someone else and not by Molly. Dark oak furniture, light blue grey walls, beige curtains, a crème colored chair in the corner of the room, fake flowers on the chest of drawers and high-thread count sheets to match.

I put out my arm reaching for my phone to find the time. 3:35 pm. I cringed at how much of the day I had wasted and then I looked over at the side table. Molly had placed a bottle of water and two Advil on the table with a little note written in elegant handwriting that said, 'Good Morning Lock' and a little smiley face. I grabbed the post-it and smiled. I liked her, a lot more than I figured I would after 12 hours.

I sat up slowly and opened the bottle of water, grabbed the Advil, popped them into my mouth and swallowed them, drinking almost the entire bottle of water. My hangover was intense. The last time I had a headache this bad was when Irene and I had broken up. I rubbed my hands through my hair and slowly stood up.

I opened the door, walked down the hallway into the kitchen and saw her standing by her floor to ceiling windows with her back to me. She was swaying while she played the violin, barefoot, more tattoos on both feet, her dark jeans hugging her body and her black lace bra was peeking out underneath the grey men's tank top she was wearing. The tattoos crawled up her arms onto her back and ribs and her hair was in an effortless ponytail. She was beautiful, exactly herself in that moment when she didn't know I was looking at her.

I walked to the kitchen counter and looked at the book she had left open, pages down. 'White Trash Zombie Apocalypse', I picked it up and looked closer at the cover of a skinny woman, holding a gun and smoking a cigarette while looking all zombified. I laughed, here she was playing Bach and reading a book about a redneck zombie.

"Good morning." I hadn't even noticed that she had stopped playing but now she was facing me with a smile on her face, the violin in one hand and the bow in the other. She had black rimmed glasses on that fit her face just right, not too big or too small and she had no makeup on. Her face was perfect. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked placing the violin on a chair nearest to her.

"I can feel my brain cells dying and I think I'm still a little drunk," I said walking over to her couch and sitting down.

"Can I get you another shot of tequila?" she questioned, grinning, and I felt her weight next to me as she plopped down. I made a noise of disgust and she laughed. "All you need is a good cup of tea and a good greasy breakfast."

"It's nearly 4," I said rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands.

"It'll be your breakfast and my dinner but before that I also have some good news." She smiled and leaned forward grabbing her laptop, opening it. "Our romantic karaoke song was overshadowed by the awesomeness that is you singing 'Gangsta's Paradise.'" She passed me the laptop with YouTube open and then hit play. "I've watched it like five times and the rest of the world has watched it close to a million times. You've basically broken the internet. _Downtowners_ fan girls are losing their fucking minds," she said giggling.

I watched myself sing the song as if I were watching a different person. There was no way I had done this as convincingly as I had. I knew that I went for it but it did not feel the way it looked.

I must have looked upset because she asked me, "What's the matter?"

"I just don't remember it being like this," I said wanting to scroll down and read the comments but stopped myself knowing my brain couldn't handle that right now.

"It never is the way you remember. Is it worse or better than you remember?" she asked taking her laptop from me. "Cause I think it's pretty awesome. You overshadow me and I don't want to sound full of myself but that's hard to do."

"I think I still look like a fool next to you but I'm doing this way better than I remember. I thought my limbs were out of control but I actually look like I know what I'm doing." I smiled at her.

"The video is a lot of fun to watch and the rumors about us are going to be lost in the awesomeness of this video. So you might get some questions about it but just dodge them and everything will be alright." She smiled and closed her laptop putting it on her coffee table.

I smiled and touched my chest. "Where are my clothes?" I asked realizing I was half naked.

She stuck her thumb nail in her mouth trying to hide the smirk on her face. "Oh, last night you took them off out here and then went to sleep."

I felt my eyes widen. "Did I do this in front of everyone?"

"Oh no, no, that show was just for me." She seemed mildly proud that I only took my clothes off for her and then stood up and walked out to her balcony.

"Oh God," I muttered to myself rubbing my eyes in shame.

She came back in folding the clothes I had worn yesterday. "I washed them for you." She handed them to me.

"You washed my clothes?" I asked slightly quizzical looking from her to the clothes in awe as I took them from her.

"I hope that's okay," she said looking away from me, her cheeks turning pink, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "I had the time and no one likes wearing gross morning after drinking clothes."

I smiled warmly, "Thank you." I looked around. "Do you mind if I take a shower?" I immediately felt awkward for asking her this. I had only known her a day and I was asking to get naked in her apartment but there was something about her that made me feel like I had known her a lot longer.

"Yeah, sure." She moved away from the couch and into the kitchen. "Do you still wanna stay for breakfast slash dinner or do you have somewhere you have to be?" She flushed again, just slightly, and it made me smile. I was starting to grow fond of that flush.

"Food sounds amazing. I would love to stay." We both were doing that weird; I can't tell if you actually like me dance. I liked her, I figured I was making that obvious but she was harder to read. I stood and walked towards the bathroom.

"You aren't allergic to anything are you?" she shouted.

"No," I shouted back.

"Cool. Cool, cool, cool," she muttered as I could hear the clinking and clanking of pans. "There's a spare toothbrush under the sink too."

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door. I placed my clothes on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked as bad as I felt. I was drained of color, tired, and dehydrated. I took off the pajama pants and folded them, placing them on the counter. It occurred to me that these were probably Jim's. It made me feel slightly strange that I had worn them and a burst of worry shot through me. Why would she keep these? I knew she had a very sordid past with him but why pajama bottoms? I was worried that she still loved him. Getting involved with a woman who was still in love with her ex-husband wasn't a good idea.

I finished undressing and started the shower making it as hot as I could bear. I took my time washing my hair and my body, letting the hot water wash off the night before and relax me. I wished that I could have showered longer but I knew that I had spent too much time in there already and I needed to get out.

I stepped out and dried myself off, dressing quickly and tried to make sure I was a presentable as possible.

When I opened the door the whole condo smelled like bacon and I could hear Steely Dan and her singing along.

Her back was to me and she was dancing as she cooked, seasoning the eggs and checking what looked like hash browns.

In that particular moment I felt the urge to come up behind her and slip my arms around her waist and kiss her neck softly while she cooked but I fought it. I wanted to kiss her; I would have last night if Joe hadn't interrupted us. If he disliked me before I was sure that he probably hated me now.

"You like Steely Dan?" I asked only a foot or so away from her not realizing how close to her I had gotten.

She screamed and some of the eggs she was cooking spilled out onto the stove as her body reacted to my surprise presence. She turned quickly and looked at me. "Jesus, Sherlock you're like a fucking ninja." She placed her hand on her chest, the spatula in her other hand.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," I said walking around the counter to sit on one of the stools on the other side. "You like Steely Dan?" I said motioning to her iPhone in the dock.

She smiled and nodded. "I love Steely Dan, especially this song." She turned back to the food and sang the chorus.

_I'm a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah/ I don't want to do your dirty work, no more/I'm a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah_

I had started singing with her without noticing I was doing it. She turned to face me with a smile on her face. "I don't understand why you don't like singing. Your voice is so beautiful."

"I like singing, well I like singing with you," I said.

She grinned as her cheeks went pink. "Do you want some tea?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I would love some tea," I said really looking around her condo trying to take it in and learn something about her. She was telling the truth when she said that she hadn't lived here long. There was art hanging on the walls, peaceful pictures of fog covered forests but no personal pictures. The furniture was stylish all crème colored, the rugs lush, the coffee table dark stained oak, the walls were a deep soothing grey. There was little clutter, some books, magazines and blu-rays were lying around stacked in neat piles. Her taste was mixed and eclectic, cartoons, period dramas, British political comedies, teen rom coms, Cosmo, Spin Magazine, Runners Digest, Vonnegut, Tolstoy, 50 Shades of Grey. There was nothing to really pin point on this girl. She was either interested in all of these things or they had just been given to her. I couldn't help but notice the two seasons of _Downtowners_ lying beside her TV and it caused me to smile.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked checking on the food and pouring boiling water into a teapot.

I nodded. "Much. A hot shower always does a world of good."

She smiled. "How do you take your tea?"

"Milk and sugar."

She poured the tea from the pot when it had steeped long enough and added milk and sugar and placed it on the counter in front of me and then made one for herself.

I looked at the mug that had 'fuck you bitch' written on it. I found myself laughing out loud.

"A birthday gift from Jen," she said taking a sip of her tea as she started dishing everything on to plates.

I lifted the cup to my lips and took a sip and nearly dropped the mug as I choked on the liquid on its way down. "What is this?" I asked managing to swallow and take another long sip.

She looked at me confused as she finished buttering some toast and put it on one of the plates. "Um… tea." She handed me a plate and placed the other one in front of the chair beside me. She went to the fridge and pulled out some ketchup, HP sauce, jam, and peanut butter and placed them all front of me.

"This tastes like real tea. Like British tea, I haven't had tea like this since I got here. No matter what I do I can't make tea here taste like this." I took another sip. "Oh God, this is good." I closed my eyes and savored the taste on my tongue.

I could hear her putting something on her to toast. "I have the tea imported from the UK. I took to drinking this brand when I lived there and now nothing else will do. I'm also a Canadian raised by Brits; I was drinking tea out of a bottle when I was two, so I know a thing or two about making tea." She bit into her toast covered in jam while winking at me.

"What brand is this?" I asked her putting a little pile of HP sauce on my plate, grabbing some cutlery and diving in.

"Jackson of Piccadilly. I just picked it up one day and I couldn't get enough of it," she said smiling putting some eggs on her fork.

"It's good, so is this breakfast slash dinner," I said pointing at the plate with my fork.

"Thank you," she said as she continued to eat, bouncing around in her seat looking so excited to be eating. "I love food, foody, food food," she sang.

"How are you not insanely hung over?" I asked eyeing her suspiciously. "I can barely stand and you're singing about food."

She laughed. "I'm very good at making people believe whatever they want to believe."

"That's an unsettling thing for a woman to say to a man."

"It's an unsettling thing for someone to say to anyone," she said grinning, "and I'm not insanely hung over because I showed up late."

I tilted my head. "Explain."

"My 'recording sessions'," she said using her fingers to make air quotes, "always run late. I was just sitting up here wasting time until I knew everyone had a pint or two in them and then I come in and order everyone shots. So by the time I sit down for my first beer everyone has a shot and one or two drinks in them. No one notices how much I drink after that. If you were paying attention you would have noticed that I didn't finish the first and only pint I ordered at the bar and I took about two sips of the song humiliation pint. I had only had a shot and a beer by the time we arrived back here." She ate some more of her bacon and took a big sip of tea and then continued. "I poured you your pint and got myself a pint glass and filled it a quarter of the way. No one will ask questions as long as I have a glass with beer in it. Now, as for the game of Kings, I was not betting on that and I got pretty tipsy drinking those five beers. I had another one with Jen, a final shot before everyone left and then I put you to bed, drank a bunch of water, took some Advil and went to bed. I woke up at noon, drank more water, ate something and took more Advil." She raised her eyebrows like I should be impressed with her and I was. I had no idea she wasn't drinking. "No hangover."

"That seems like a lot of trouble not to get drunk. Why don't you just tell your friends that you don't want to drink?"

"It's not that I don't want to drink, I just don't want to get really drunk. What's the worst thing a drunk person can experience?" she asked me putting peanut butter on her toast and then her last piece of bacon on top of that.

I looked at her in horror as she put the toast in her mouth. "What are you doing?"

Her eyes darted from side to side. "Eating," she said confused.

"Those two things do not go together. Peanut butter and bacon should never cross paths." I tried not to gag.

"These two things together are delicious. Take a bite and tell me that I'm wrong." She held out the toast to me.

I looked from the toast to her and then back. "I don't know if my stomach can handle this right now."

An annoyed look swept her face. "Just eat it."

I leaned forward and took a bite. I was ready to be assaulted by a taste most fowl but was pleasantly surprised by how wonderfully the saltiness of the bacon mixed with the sweetness of the peanut butter. "That's actually pretty good."

She smiled triumphantly. "I know. I would never offer something disgusting to a hung over person with a wibbly wobbly stomach, unless I really hated them." She winked.

"Speaking of hungover you were explaining why you're not." I took a big forkful of eggs and put them in my mouth.

"Right the worst thing to a drunk person can come in contact with is a sober person, so I get a little tipsy and let everyone else believe what they want to believe. Everyone has a good time." She shrugged and ate some hash browns.

"But you don't like drinking," I said pointing at her with my fork.

"I like drinking fine; I just don't like being wasted."

"Why?" I asked with the right kind of inflection that I knew would offend her just enough to defend herself and let me know a little about her.

"I'm not or never was an alcoholic if that's what you're asking." She was annoyed but not overly. I was about to walk a fine line.

"That wasn't what I was implying," I said staring at her hoping she would continue which she did.

She sighed, "I couldn't possibly deal with the things I had to deal with at the age I had to deal with them, so it was easier to ignore the problem." She rubbed her forehead as she put down her fork. "I needed to be on his level but I didn't want to put all that shit in my body, so I drank. I never needed it; my survival didn't depend on it. I hated getting drunk, even then, I hated the person I became when I was that drunk but it was so hard not be fucked up when you were with him." She shook her head as her eyes glazed over. She was far away from me now until she looked up and shook herself out of it. "Sorry. I don't like talking about Jim." She looked at me with an almost offended look on her face. "How are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" I asked like I had no idea what she was talking about.

"I've spoken to you three times about him in the past 24 hours. I didn't start speaking about Jim to Jen until I had known her six months. How are you doing that?" She poked me a few times on the shoulder.

"Maybe you just want to trust me?" I said trying to gauge where she was, what she was thinking.

She stared at me for what felt close to a minute as her eyes narrowed and then she turned back to her food. "Did you have fun last night?"

I nodded. "I never really go out. I'm more of a homebody but Jen is very persuasive."

"Yes, she is."

"How do you know her?"

"I sang a song for _The Hunger Games_ soundtrack and I met her at a party. I introduced myself and she asked me if I wanted to see her stuff 18 large marshmallows into her mouth and that was all she wrote. I speak to her almost every day in one way or another. She is something else, I love her a lot." She smiled warmly, similar to the way Jen smiled when talking about Molly.

"She speaks highly of you too. She seems like a handful," I said honestly.

"She is but she's the best kind of handful." She smiled for a little while longer until her face scrunched up in disgusted. "That sounded weirdly sexual." She looked up at me and started laughing. "Oh Christ, sorry, you were talking about being a homebody."

I nodded. "I planned on going home as quickly as I could but then I heard you were coming. I wanted to meet you and once I had met you it was really hard to want to leave. I guess at a certain point of the night I just decided that for that night I was just going to, I don't know, get lost, stop overthinking everything."

I heard her cutlery clink on her plate. "What did you just say?" she asked looking at me with a furrowed brow.

"I said last night I decided to stop overthinking everything." I put my knife and fork down and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "What? What's wrong?"

She pointed at me and then started looking around for something, getting off her seat. "Last night… I'm a guarded person too," she said looking at me only just for a moment, placing her hand on her chest and then going back to whatever she was looking for, finally finding a pen and then continuing to look for what I could only assume was paper. "And last night when we were in my music room and you were going to kiss me, I thought-"

"How did you know I was going to kiss you?" I asked turning towards her in the living room.

She stopped, dropped her hands to the side with a crooked smile, a raised eyebrow and just stared at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, continue," I motioned for her.

"I don't do romance all that well, not anymore anyway, and last night I decided that I would get lost, even if it was just for that night and you thought it too and now I'm gonna write us a song," she said coming back to her seat.

She took the pad of paper she had found and clicked the pen. "I'm excited." She looked up at me with large eyes and a smile and then wrote out a lyric.

"I can see that," I said smiling. "So you are going to write us a song?"

"Well, you can help when you want to. All I have is one lyric we can build from there." She slowly looked up at me through her lashes. "If just for tonight darling, let's get lost."

"Let's get lost?" I asked looking at the pad.

"I like it, we both thought it. We can let it sit and see if anything comes from it. We may never see each other again after today but if we do then this might be the starting of the song we can sing together." She took the last of her eggs on her fork and put them in her mouth.

"I hope this isn't the last time we see each other," I said looking away from her trying not to blush.

I heard her writing something and then the piece of paper being ripped off the pad. I saw the paper as she pushed it into my line vision. I turned to look at the paper and under the lyric she had written was her number. "If you want to see me again all you have to do is call."

I looked over at her. She looked nervous and I could still see the pink in her cheeks in the dulling blue light of dusk. She had put the ball in my court. It was up to me if I wanted this to advance and I did. I didn't know how long it would last, if we would actually be right for each other, if her past or even my past would allow us to fully trust one another but I wanted to find out. I couldn't remember the last person I felt this comfortable with right away. John? Irene? I had to find out what this was.

I didn't realize that I had moved in closer, I was only a couple of inches away from her face now. Her eyes were closed, her lips pouted and slightly parted and then in a whisper she spoke. "Sherlock," she placed her hand on my chest and pushed me away from her.

"What's the matter?" I asked her.

She looked away from me and then back to me as her mouth opened and closed until she finally found the right words. "I want to make sure that this is something that could be real. I don't want to like you cause I like Tobias or Khan or any other character you've played and I don't want you to think that you like me because you like my music." She reached up and pulled her hair out of her ponytail and nervously played with the elastic. Her loose curls framed her face perfectly. "It's happened to me more than once, most of the guys that I've briefly dated since my marriage want to save me because they assume I'm the girl in my songs so, I want to take this slow and find out what this is. I like you, way more than I thought I would in the amount of time I've know you but I'm not going to jump in head first or…"

"Get lost?" I asked her.

She laughed and nodded. "The last time I just got lost in someone it was with Jim and you know how that turned out." She tucked some of hair behind her ear.

"I get it. We'll go slow and see where this goes." I found myself smiling. She liked me and at least I knew where I stood now. I hated not knowing where I stood.

"You all done?" she asked pointing at my plate.

I nodded. "I would love more tea if you don't mind."

She shook her head as she put the plates into the sink. "I'll put the kettle on. Do you wanna stay and watch a movie?" she asked filling the kettle and turning it on.

"Sure. What do you have?" I asked standing wandering into her living room.

"All the movies I have here are under the TV," she said pointing without looking.

I walked into her living room, sat in front of her TV, and looked through her movies. "_Never Been Kissed_?" I said looking at the box that had Drew Barrymore on the cover.

"Oh my god, that is the best movie ever. I watched it a million times when I was fourteen!" she said as she walked over with two mugs in her hand and sat down on the couch.

"Oh, so me, a 37 year old man will love it then?" I said opening the case and putting it in the player.

"Do you have a heart?" she asked trying to be as serious as she could but I could see the smile at the edge of her lips.

"I do," I said getting up and sitting beside her on the couch.

"Then you'll like it," she said pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and stretching out putting her feet in my lap.

She fell asleep about half way in and slept until it ended. She woke up when I moved to take the movie out of the player. "I fell asleep," she said overly alert and embarrassed.

"You did," I said looking through her other movies.

"I'm sorry." She rubbed her eyes and removed her glasses that had become askew while she slept.

"That's okay." I smiled and held up the next movie in the stack. "You like _The Wicker Man_?"

She looked up. "Oh, that's not the original one. That's the remake with Nick Cage."

"I never knew they remade it. Is it any good?" I asked flipping it over to read the back.

"Well, he karate fights two women and then gets into a bear suit and starts punching other women in the face, so it's pretty awesome." She grinned.

"That sounds awful," I said opening it up.

"Oh it is, it's the worst piece of crap ever but in its own way a masterpiece. We have to watch it now," she said getting up to turn on a lamp.

We both sat on the couch favouring the middle rather than the ends. She had tucked her feet underneath her and her knees were touching my thighs. She was right; the movie was awful but had me laughing because she seemed to think it was so funny. It must have been a North American thing.

After forty minutes in we started to ignore the movie and began talking to one another about nothing serious, just random ridiculous things. "Have you met Beyonce?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Have you met Adele?"

"Yes, but as a rule it was collectively decided by the music community Adele, Beyonce, and I are not allowed in the same room together at the same time. All that talent in the same room would cause a collapse in the musical space time continuum," she said very impressed with herself.

"She said so modestly," I said teasing her.

"I am modest in many ways Lock but not when it comes to my music." She sat up and stretched, cracking her neck. "How come you don't like singing?"

"Because I'm better at acting," I said raising my eyebrow.

"He said so modestly." She smiled.

"I also have another talent. I'm pretty good at making deductions about people, like Tobias. I researched it when I got the role," I said proud of myself. "I'm not nearly as good as him but I can deduce some things about people sometimes."

"Said the man that thought I was American and drunk last night," she said teasingly.

"That was an unusual circumstance; I had had a lot to drink so my deduction skills were a little bit off. I was not in my right mind."

"I have Canadian beer on tap and a Canadian flag hanging in my music room."

"Again, I was drunk and to be completely honest with you all I could see was you in that music room, everything else was kind of hazy." I turned my attention back to _The Wicker Man_ and saw what looked like Nicolas cage in a bear suit punching a woman in the face just like she said he would.

"So, I shouldn't ask you to solve a crime if we've been to the pub beforehand?"

"That would be wise, yes," I said running my hand through my hair. "You have a lot of tattoos," I said pointing at her arms.

"Yes I do. Did you use your deduction skills to figure that one out?"

"You love to tease me don't you?" I said angling my body towards her.

She laughed out loud, a deep belly laugh. "It's just so easy. I don't even have to try." She tucked her feet underneath her so she was resting her butt on the heels of her feet and she stuck out her arms. "I have no regrets in my life, I wish a lot of things didn't happen but I regret none of it. So I never regret any of my tattoos. I love them and I love looking at them and remembering why I have them all." She smiled warmly. "This arm has specific dates with pictures intertwined, my first concert with Rufus, the day I signed my record contract, the day I met Jim, the day we married, the day I won my first Grammy, the day of my accident, the most important days of my life, for better or for worse, swirling around my arm." She lifted her shirt and exposed her rips to me. "I just got this one for Jen."

I leaned in and looked at the elegant script and realized how much this girl loved, how she didn't hide who she was or what she felt and she never, not ever apologized for it. It was apparent in her music but it was beyond obvious in who she was a person. I envied her ability not to care about the frivolous things that everyone held in such high regard and care so intensely for the things that everyone else took for granted. I realized in that moment, I could take away everything in her life but if she had a piano and the people she loved she wouldn't even notice. She made a hissing sound, "Lock, your hands are freezing."

I pulled my hands away quickly; I hadn't even realized I was touching her. "Sorry, tattoos have always fascinated me but I'm terrified of needles."

"Once you get one it's impossible to stop. I'm running out of room. Soon I won't be able to get anymore." She frowned, flopping onto the couch.

"Do you still love him?" The question was coming out of my mouth before I even realized that I was asking it.

Her expression darkened as she stared at me. I had crossed a line and I knew I shouldn't have asked it but I felt like we had known each other ages instead of hours and my brain mouth filter was down. She didn't say anything for quite some time as we just stared at each other, until finally she spoke, "Yes."

I nodded and looked away from her not really sure how to take it.

"But I'm not in love with him," she said quietly. "He's a part of me and always will be and I love him like you love a brother. You have no choice but to love a brother but it doesn't mean you like it when they keep turning up at your home threatening you or asking for money. You don't want to see them hurt but dealing with them is an ordeal and utterly exhausting and no matter what you do, how much you try, no matter how many miles you put between you and that person, they are there always." She scrunched up her face. "Do you know what I mean? I want to move on from him but I haven't found quite the right person and I can't afford to be careless."

"I understand," I said nodding suddenly feeling tired. I looked at my watch shocked to see it was 11 pm. "I should probably get going, first day of shooting tomorrow."

"That's exciting and by the way," she said turning to fetch my coat and handing it to me, "I am insanely jealous that you are working with Fincher. In my opinion the man is God."

"I didn't realize you were a fan," I lied. I knew she was a fan.

"He's made three of my favorite movies."

"Ahhhhh let me see, _Fight Club_, _Seven_, and _The Social Network_," I said putting on my coat.

She looked taken aback. "How did you know that?"

"Your tattoos there, _The Social Network_," I said pointing to one that was just under her collarbone that said 'You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount'. "Here, _Seven_," I said point to her wrist where 'Se7en' was written, "and _Fight Club_, here and here," I said pointing to the backs of her arms just above her elbow that said, 'I am Jack's wasted life' and 'I am Jack's smirking revenge'. "He also only has nine movies to his name to it's easy to narrow it down based on your age and what movies of his most people tend to like and you made a reference to _Fight Club_ last night."

She grinned and rolled her eyes. "Okay, you're good at deductions, I get it." She pushed me towards the elevator.

I turned to face her. "Thank you for everything last night and today. I had a really good time." I pushed the elevator button.

"So did I, it was really nice to meet you. I wasn't disappointed." She made a face like she had smelled something bad. "Sorry, that didn't sound awesome. I'm not very good at this."

"It's okay. I find it endearing." I smiled.

"If Jen asks you anything about today just say nothing or make something really crazy or elaborate up, like, a threesome or group sex with furries." She ran her hand through her hair. "It'll confuse her."

I laughed and nodded as the elevator doors opened. "I'll call you," I said knowing I would, knowing it would be torture waiting to call to make it seem I wasn't crazy. I liked waking up here, to her tattoos, to her fresh face, to her bizarre taste in everything, to tea that actually tasted like tea, to her music. I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, smelling her slightly perfumed smell, the cooking, the natural scent of her skin and turned to walk onto the elevator.

"Bye," she said smiling, leaning against the door frame as she rubbed her cheek where I had kissed it.

"Bye." I smiled sweetly as the door started to close. She moved away the elevator, waved, and then turned so her back was to me.

The next thing that happened happened so quickly I didn't know I was doing it. I didn't know what clicked in my brain to make me do this but I found myself moving forward and my foot was jamming the elevator open and I was stepping towards her. It was like someone was controlling my body, the word 'slow' was being shouted in my head but I couldn't stop myself and in all honesty I didn't want to stop. I wanted to kiss her.

Fuck it.

She turned quickly, her hair fanning out so I could smell her shampoo, coconut, and she looked at me with confusion. My arm went around her waist pulling her body against mine and my hand cupped her jaw as I pushed my lips against hers. Her tense body relaxed almost immediately and she brought her hands up, one cupping the side of my neck, the other found its way into my hair. She pressed her body into mine as our mouths opened and I took her bottom lip in between my own. She breathed in deeply and relaxed even more to the point where it felt like I was supporting her and then I broke away. I didn't want to but I knew that if we kissed any longer that would be going too far.

She looked up at me through her lashes, her lips were red and swollen and she was breathing heavily. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I know you said slow but I had to."

She nodded slowly and smiled, touching her lips. "I have not been kissed like that in a very long time."

"You're not mad?" I could hear the shock in my voice. "This isn't exactly slow."

"Oh, what do I know?" she said standing on her tippy toes to kiss me again. "But you need to leave now because if you don't I may not be able to let you leave." She kissed me again.

I nodded smiling pushing the button for the elevator again. "I'll call you," I said stepping backwards as the elevator doors opened.

"I'll be waiting," she said kissing me again and then stepping away as I let the elevator doors actually close this time.

I felt drunk and giddy to the point where I let out a giggle and jumped up and down three times in the same spot. I had had a crush on Molly Hooper for nearly 10 years and I had finally kissed her. I tried to pull myself together; I was beginning to sound like a teenage girl. I did not do this. I did not get giddy. I was controlled, pulled together, and within 24 hours this woman had made me fall apart.

The elevator doors opened and I walked up to Scott who was sitting at the concierge. "Can you please call me a cab Scott?" I asked lightly banging on the counter.

"Mr. Holmes," Scott looked up at me mildly confused. "You're staying at the Ritz-Carlton."

I smiled. "Yes, that's where I was staying. Can you call me a cab so I can go there?"

"Mr. Holmes these are the Ritz-Carlton Residences, the hotel is right across the way," he said trying not to laugh at me.

"Right, I'll walk then," I said flipping up my collar and fishing out my wallet as I left the building. In the front slot was my key card that had Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles written on it. I suppose I could have just looked for this and gone home last night but I was very happy I didn't.

I reached the building in three minutes, walked across the lobby quickly and got into the elevator. My first thought was whether I should call Molly to tell her I was currently living three minutes away from her. I decided to wait until I had actually found and entered my room.

Luckily, I remembered that my room was 4807 and I didn't have to walk around aimlessly or even worse ask someone for help. I got into my room and took off my jacket and flopped down on my couch. I reached for my remote and turned on the TV, leaving it on whatever music channel I had it on before.

I pulled out the piece of paper that had her phone number on it and programed it into my phone and then pushed call.

The second I pushed it my palms were sweating and I suddenly felt stupid for calling her so soon after I had seen her.

She answered with a heavy breath. "What?" she spat into the phone.

"Did I call at a bad time?" I asked. If I felt stupid before I felt utterly moronic now.

I could hear her sigh in relief. "Oh Sherlock, no, no now is fine."

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, yeah it's just work stuff." She was lying. "What's up?"

"So guess which hotel I'm staying at?" I was grinning like an idiot.

"Which hotel are you staying at?" All the annoyance she had in her voice when she answered the phone was gone.

"I am staying at the Ritz Carlton."

"Like the Ritz Carlton right across from my place?" I could hear a piano and I assumed that she was in her music room.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Of course you're staying there." She laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Watching music videos and as fate would have one of yours is on."

"Oh God, which one is it?" The piano was becoming more prominent in the background.

"'Red Red Red'. It's so beautiful," I said talking it in. It had been awhile since I had seen it.

"Oh God, Baz will never work with me again because of that video. I was such a mess. Crying, always crying." She sighed.

"It's beautiful." The video consisted of nothing more than Molly sitting on a throne in a field in a white gown and her face drained of all color except for her lips. The sky behind her became more and more cloudy as colorful exotic flowers and plants slowly grew into the frame threatening to consume her. A lot of the video was close ups of her face twisted in sadness, tears streaming from her eyes. It was gorgeous and there was so much emotion behind it, it was impossible to look away. "When was the last time you watched it?" I asked.

"Um," she took a moment and laughed, "When I made it." The piano playing stopped abruptly.

"Watch it again with a fresh pair of eyes. Everything looks different through a fresh pair of eyes," I told her walking to my fridge and grabbing a water. When I returned 'Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth' was playing. It was this neon colored dance explosion trying to display the downside of drugs in the most colorful way possible. Molly stood on a lit up platform in black leather pants, black boots that came up mid-calf, a chiffon black shirt, and a blood red blazer as she played the guitar, a backup band behind her. Her eye makeup was dramatic, her lips as red as her blazer, her skin pore less white. The song was amazing but the video was so weird. "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth' video is playing," I said to her.

"That was a fun video to make and Dave didn't try to put me in a bikini so I liked it." She sounded happier and far away.

"Am I on speaker phone?" I asked.

"I'm changing, so yes," she said.

I swallowed hard thinking about the fact that she could be naked while speaking to me. I decided to focus on something else. "It's a really fucked up video," I said hopping on my previous train of thought.

"Of course it is that's the point." She laughed and then sighed. "Lock, would you be angry if I told you I had to go?"

"Of course not," I said smiling into the phone.

"You should get some sleep too. You haven't recovered from your hangover yet." I could hear the rustling of sheets.

"I will," I said.

"Goodnight Lock," she whispered into the phone.

"Goodnight Molly," I said back and hung up the phone.

I channel surfed for about ten minutes until I could feel my eyes drooping and passed out on the couch feeling excited rather than nervous about the next day.

* * *

**Songs: Johann Sebastian Bach - Partita for solo violin Nº 2 in D minor**

**Dirty Work – Steely Dan**

**Red Red Red – Fiona Apple**

**Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth – The Dandy Warhols **


	4. Writing

**A/N:SORRY ABOUT THIS REPOST! I THOUGHT THE CHARACTERS NAME WAS ATHENA BUT IT'S ANTHEA CAUSE I'M A DUMMY SO I JUST CHANGED THAT. SORRY!  
**

**We learn some stuff about Molly in this chapter. I hope you all like it. **

**Thanks to my beta Midnight Angel414**

**I do not own any of these songs or characters **

* * *

**MOLLY**

I was giddy and my lips were burning from where his touched mine. I felt like I was about to burst. I hadn't felt this way in a long time and I felt hopeful. I could do this. I didn't understand why for all those years I thought I couldn't. I was in control of my life and I could dictate what did or didn't happen to me. I could do this and I wanted to do it with Sherlock.

I had no excuse to run anymore because the last time I felt like this was the night I met Jim. I knew then and I was terrified now. I didn't want to continue to pick poisonous people but I knew I didn't want Jim to continue to influence my choices anymore. He had taken so much from me already.

My phone started buzzing and I looked at the number. I silently cursed myself for not getting Sherlock's number to know if this was him. I shrugged it off because I was too giddy to care. I pushed answer and brought the phone to my ear. "Hello," I sang brightly.

"Hello wife," Jim said menacingly, in a way that told me he was intoxicated in one way or another. I couldn't tell if it was drugs or alcohol.

I felt my body stiffen. "Where are you?" I asked him the question leaning against the back of the couch.

"It's funny, every time you ask me that I end up getting arrested." He was alert, speaking quickly, his accent sounded high pitched. Cocaine.

"Well, that's the thing about a restraining order; you aren't supposed to be calling me. Where are you?" I asked again, trying to keep myself under control.

"I just wanted to have a chit chat with my wife," he started laughing.

"I'm not your wife anymore Jim," I snapped.

"If you say so."

"I do." I hung up quickly and pinched the bridge of my nose. I labeled the number as Jim so I would know not to pick it up next time.

My phone rang again and I answered, putting it to my ear spitting out, "What?"

It was Sherlock sounding all floppy and adorable and unsure. "Did I call at a bad time?"

I let out a laugh of relief and shook my head. "Oh Sherlock, no, now is fine."

He went on to tell me that he was staying at the Ritz Carlton right across the way. I was happy to hear it because there were a hundred different way to get from my building into the hotel but it was hard to focus on what he was saying after just speaking to Jim.

I wandered into my music room and sat down at my piano and started to play the random melody that was playing on repeat in my head. I half listened as I focused on the music and responded when I knew I had to. Jim knew I was back in L.A. He must be somewhere in the city and I knew he would try and find me. Jim always sought me out. It was the price I would pay until he became clean or eventually killed himself.

Sherlock brought up 'Red Red Red' again and I felt my heart sink. There were so many emotions associated with that song that I didn't want to have to feel the things that that song made me feel, so I was happy when he started talking about 'Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth'. I want to talk to him but I couldn't, I just needed to go to sleep.

The last 20 minutes of my day had me feeling so many things I just needed to sleep on it. I wanted to give Sherlock my full attention and in that particular moment he didn't have it. I put him on speakerphone and shed my pants, panties, and bra and put on some boy shorts and put the phone up to my ear. "Lock would you be angry if I told you I had to go?" I asked him quietly.

I told him to get some sleep and we said goodnight to each other as I slipped into bed where I tossed and turned for hours until exhaustion finally took me.

* * *

I couldn't remember a time I wasn't awoken by my phone. It was vibrating on my bedside table, moving a little each time, threatening to fall to the floor. There was always some fire that needed to be put out, some catastrophe waiting to happen that only I could solve. I begrudgingly picked it up and put it to my ear. "Hello," I croaked out.

"Hello darling, how are you?" said Jen in a British accent.

"I was sleeping," I spat out, annoyed.

"You're so lazy," she teased.

"Fuck you," I teased back as I rolled over and stared at my ceiling.

There was a long pause before Jen decided to speak again. "Soooooo…what did you and Sherlock get up to?"

"What makes you think we got up to anything?" I asked trying to be as casual as I could knowing that most likely Sherlock had given us away somehow or that Jen threatened him until he told her what she wanted to know.

"Because Lock came to set today and looked at me and said, "Good morning, how are you?" That's weird," she said as if was telling me the biggest piece of gossip she had ever heard.

I tried to make it sound like I was shocked. "Oh my god, what?! That is weird. We'll have to call the Scooby gang and have them solve, 'The Mystery of the Actors and the Early Morning Pleasantries'. Why is it weird that he asked you how you are?" I sat up in my bed and pulled the covers off. I reached for some lotion on my bedside table and began to rub it into my legs as I pushed my phone to my ear with my shoulder.

"It's weird because I've had rehearsals with this man for a week and not once did he speak to me unless he had to. I had to pull him kicking and screaming so he would come out with us the other night and now he waltzes in here all 'Oh hello Jennifer, how are you? You look so lovely today'." She was doing her best Sherlock impression. "So either he has developed a tumor that is pushing on the part of his brain that allows him to be nice or you two snogged or….." she trailed off, "what's the British word for fucked?" she asked.

I sighed. "Jen, fucked is the British word for fucked or rather the English word because they also speak English in Britain. You're looking for the British slang, shagged." I rubbed my hands over my face.

"So did you shag or snog?" She sounded so excited and expectant.

"Jen, do you think that he's being nice to you because you guys all went out the other night? He just feels comfortable around you now." I got out of bed and stretched with my phone still caught between my ear and shoulder.

"Molly, he has done nothing but smile all day and not just a little bit. We had to stop a take cause he was just smiling, he had no idea he was doing it." This was a question I could no longer get around and I felt myself smiling that I was making him smile uncontrollably. "So you kissed then?"

"We kissed, yes." I was doing a dance without even realizing I was doing it.

She giggled like a school girl. "Is he a good kisser?"

"He is a very good kisser," I sighed out.

"I know right!" she squealed into the phone.

It took me a moment to realize what she had said, "Wait, what?" I took the phone into my hands and moved from my bedroom into my bathroom with the intent of brushing my teeth.

"I had to kiss him today in a scene. He's a good kisser."

"I don't know if I like that," I sneered into the phone and put toothpaste onto my toothbrush.

"Oooohhhhh, you're jealous, that's a good sign." She laughed her stupid laugh that I loved so dearly. "What are you doing today?"

"Writing," I replied through a mouth full of toothpaste which I spit out. "And composing."

"Already? Don't you usually wait till New York to start writing?" She laughed again and started eating something that sounded like chips.

"I have inspiration," I said before rinsing out my mouth and flopping onto my bed.

"Ooohhhhh, this is interesting. You never have inspiration when I see you."

"That's because I met you after my last record. You've never seen me in music writing mode." I grinned running one of my hands through my hair cringing at how dirty it felt.

"Does your inspiration go by the name of Sherlock?"

"Maybe."

"Molly!" shouted someone that sounded like my PR agent Phillip Anderson.

I sat up quickly. "I'll have to call you back."

"I'll talk you up to Sherlock," she said sounding like she would be the best friend for doing that.

"No, don't do any….I'll talk to you later." I pressed end and wandered into the hallway. "Phillip?" I questioned.

"And Sally!" I moved faster and practically jumped on Sally when I saw her. Her black curls bouncing around her face. Her green eyes looked rested and bright; she was grinning from ear to ear and looked relaxed in her boyfriend jeans and white peasant blouse. Even though she was my personal assistant she saw me at my lowest and picked me up with no questions and without pity. I loved her dearly, paid her well, and tried my hardest not to take her for granted.

"I missed you." I said kissing her forehead. "But I told you to go on vacation. I don't need any help for the next couple of weeks."

"You do," Phillip said taking out his laptop, opening it on my coffee table and making himself at home. "Are you dating Sherlock Holmes?" he asked pointing at me as I walked into the kitchen to put the kettle on.

Phillip looked like shit. Phillip always looked like shit. Too skinny, too tired, his skin was starting to wrinkle prematurely because of all the sun he got and all the stress he put himself under. His beard was unkempt and too long. His voice was clear though and his appearance wasn't an indication of his mental state. I knew that his brain was a machine and it was functioning perfectly.

"I don't know." I shrugged.

"Don't pull that shit on me, I'm not an interviewer. Are you dating him?" He was angry because he was always angry but alert and that's what made him a great PR agent. He used to be Jim's but when he became fed up with Jim's antics, approached me about becoming mine and after all the shit he had gotten Jim out of, I couldn't refuse.

"I met him two days ago, Phil."

"Don't call me Phil!" He stood pointing his index finger at me with as much authority as he could muster.

"I pay you a lot of money so I'll call you whatever I want, Honey Bunny." I paused and threw my hair into a ponytail. "No, we aren't dating. I met him, we sang a song. Let it blow over, I didn't strip him down on stage and ride him like a mechanical bull, so calm down. Let the fangirls go crazy and the bloggers have their fun. This will be old news in a week and you know it," I said getting out mugs out of my cupboard. "I don't understand why this is a big deal? I thought 'Gangsta's Paradise' overshadowed the romantic song."

"Molly when you type 'Molly Sherlock karaoke' into YouTube, what do you think comes up?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

I thought on it a minute and felt my eyes close in annoyance. "Oh fuck, I hadn't thought of that."

"This is why you pay me a lot of money." He smirked and sat down typing on his computer. "A lot of people are talking and are interested in what Molly Hooper was doing with Sherlock Holmes."

"So what do I do?" I asked him pouring water into my teapot.

"The question I want answered is are you dating him?" Phillip was being serious now, he was trying to do what I paid him to do, he was trying to protect me.

"Phillip, I wasn't lying when I said that I had just met him two days ago." I brought the teapot and three mugs into the living room and placed them on the coffee table.

"Are you going to see him again? Do you want to date him or is this actually just a case of he's a man and you're a woman so that obviously means you're fucking?" he said pouring tea into the mugs.

"I want to date him," I said placing some milk and sugar on the table.

"What?!" Sally said in absolute shock dropping the Cosmo she was reading to the floor. "Why this one?" She grabbed my arm forcing me to look at her.

I shrugged and shook my head. "I don't know." I honestly didn't. I looked back at Phillip. "So what do I do?"

"Do you care if people know you are dating?" he asked me. "Because if you don't care then it doesn't matter."

"I'd like to keep it on the DL until I figure out what it is. I've only known him for two days, remember?" I said sipping on my tea, feeling an odd craving for a cigarette.

"Then you two have to do this incog-fucking-nito." He pointed at me sitting back down at his computer. "Like cloak and dagger type shit. You two cannot be in the same room unless it makes sense that you are in the same room. If he is photographed and your hand is in the photo 50 feet away, someone will find it and link it to you. So if you want to keep this on the DL, no going anywhere in public together unless the relationship is going public." He took a long sip of his tea.

My phone started buzzing and I flipped it over to see Sherlock's name. "Someone's ears were burning," I said pushing answer and bringing the phone to my ear. "Hey, what's up?"

"I just got off the phone with my PR agent and she wants to know what we are doing to handle the karaoke situation," he said quietly. I assumed he was on set and there were other people around. I could hear a man yelling out demands in the background.

"Mine is in my living room demanding to know our relationship status. I forgot to put it on Facebook, so he's very angry," I said sarcastically.

Phillip gave me the finger.

"I told my mine that I don't want this public yet. Is that okay?" He sounded scared and unsure.

"I don't want it public yet either until we find out what it is, if it is anything. My PR agent said that we cannot be seen together at all unless the event calls for it," I said leaning my head back on my couch.

"So that means..." He trailed off. In that moment I felt so bad for him. He had no idea what he was getting himself into trying to date me. If his life was simple before it wouldn't be after he dated me. What little of his privacy he had left would be gone and he was so unaware of it.

"It means if we are going to do this all our dates have to happen at yours or my place or at the house of a friend we both trust. Dating me is not going to be easy Sherlock," I said sighing, rubbing my eyes.

He was quiet for some time. "We'll make it work," he whispered.

I felt the butterflies in my stomach and a smile spread across my face. "Just dodge any questions about the video for now. Say you just met me that one time or we are just friends, I don't know. It'll blow over when the next scandal happens or someone dies or something."

"We work in a horrible business."

"Yes we do," I sighed. "When am I seeing you again next?" I found myself asking.

"How about Thursday?" He sounded happier.

"It's a date."

"It's a date," he reconfirmed with a brightness in his voice.

I hung up my phone and looked up to find Sally and Phillip looking at me with raised eyebrows. "What?" I asked drinking the rest of my tea.

"You're grinning like an idiot." Phillip's brow knitted together. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much."

"Well, that's because the muscles that allow me to smile refuse to work in your presence." I smiled like a bitch.

"That's not true you are smiling right now, bitch smile, but still a smile." He grinned at me and I refilled his mug.

I looked over at Sally wanting to catch up with my personal assistant but first and foremost my friend. Her curls bounced around as she leaned forward to grab her tea. "How are you Sally?" I asked smiling at her warmly.

She smiled. "I'm good, relaxing until this one called me." She motioned towards Phillip. She paused for a moment and I could tell she wanted to tell me something but didn't know how. "I'm dating someone." Her smile grew.

My eyes widened, "Oh my god who? Do I know her? Is she hot? Is she nice? I have to meet her," I said grabbing her hands.

"You already know her," she paused. "Anthea, I'm dating Anthea."

I stared at her. "Like my manager Anthea?"

She nodded. "We spent a lot of time together when you were on tour and it just kind of happened."

I nodded slowly. "Not to sound insensitive but is it going to affect your working relationship? I have a machine that needs to be run."

She shook her head. "We talked about that a lot and we know that our life is our life and when we are dealing with you our personal relationship is non-existent. You don't have to worry about anything."

I smiled. "Good," I paused and brought her in for a hug. "I'm so happy for you. I will admit it's an odd match. You're so quiet and sweet and Anthea is so cold and ..." I trailed off.

"Bitchy?" Sally offered up.

"Yeah, bitchy," I said pointing and nodding at her.

"Opposites attract," she said smiling.

"Hey, Lesbotron, can you please search their names in Twitter please," Philip said snapping his fingers in Sally's direction.

I looked over at him slowly. "Phillip, do you have to be such an unrelenting cock all the time?" I questioned with an unamused look on my face.

He stared at me blankly for about 10 seconds and then nodded. "Yes."

Sally took out her phone and searched Sherlock's name in Twitter first. "The thing that is coming up most is the 'Gangsta's Paradise' video and the response is mostly positive. Every once and awhile Molly's name comes up in a romantic way." She paused and typed some. "It's basically the same for Molly, she seems to be an afterthought and of course there are some angry _Downtowners_ fans." She looked up at me. "You're taking their man away apparently." She winked.

"Well, I am a man stealing wench so they nailed that one right on the head." I rolled my eyes and stood. I headed back towards my bedroom and put on some oversized grey sweat pants and came back to Phillip looking less stressed and Sally on her phone.

"So basically, lay low, don't be caught in public with him unless the event calls for it and don't comment on it?" I asked Phillip who was packing up his laptop.

"Yeah, if you and lover boy want to keep this quiet then just do that and deny. Deny, deny, deny. It works every time."

I tilted my head to the side. "It doesn't work every time but I see what you're saying."

"I'm leaving. If you think you are doing something stupid you probably are. Call me and I will talk you down." He headed to my elevator and pushed the button. "Please don't make my job any harder than it needs to be." He stepped onto the elevator and the doors closed without him saying good bye.

I turned back to Sally. "Is Anthea in L.A. or back in London?"

Sally smiled warmly. "She's in London visiting her family. I'm flying out on Thursday. Taking that vacation you told me to take." She sighed dreamily. "You won't need me right?" She asked, standing and walking towards the elevator.

I shook my head. "No, you enjoy your time in London. Call me if you need anything," I offered bringing her into a tight hug.

She hugged me back just as fiercely and stepped onto the elevator. "I will. Have fun with Sherlock." She grinned as the doors closed between us.

I turned and looked around my empty condo. "Alone in my fortress." I whispered to myself and then shook my head at how pretentious I was. The truth was I was scared to go outside. I knew that the paparazzi would be waiting for me and if they weren't there then people would be. They would be asking for photos and autographs and calling me a bitch if I didn't comply. I knew I didn't want to spend all day alone in my condo so I grabbed my phone and headed to the gym in my building for a run.

I walked into the gym relieved that only one other person was in there. I stuck my headphones in my ears and ran, aggressively, to Nirvana for 30 minutes until I could taste blood and my leg was in agony. I stopped the machine and sat down at the end of it trying to catch my breath. "Excuse me, Ms. Hooper; can I get a picture with you?" I looked up to see the only other guy in the gym standing above me.

I took a deep breath and nodded, wiping the sweat off my forehead and trying to smooth out my hair. The photo was taken quickly and he thanked me a million times. I brushed it off with a quick 'you're welcome' and a small curt smile.

I headed back up to my condo and contemplated a shower. Instead I slipped into the jeans I had worn the day before, a holey Gentle Giant t-shirt, beat up converse, and threw on some sunglasses and decided to go to the grocery store.

When I stepped outside I spotted the six paparazzi strategically placed around my building. I walked the three blocks to the store and was lucky no one actually approached me.

I grabbed basic things, milk, bread, eggs and other things I didn't need but liked. I took pictures with the seven people that stopped me, checked out and went home.

When I got home I looked at my phone and saw a missed call from Sherlock and called him back immediately. He answered after the first ring. "Molly."

"Hey Lock," I crashed onto my couch. "You called while I was out."

"Yeah," he sounded disappointed. "I just remembered Thursday isn't going to work. The Golden Globes are this Sunday and I have parties and stuff I have to go to and I can't get out of it. I'm so sorry. You have no idea how much I wish I could get out of this but I can't." He sounded upset and truly sorry and I couldn't help but smile.

"It's okay. I understand," I said walking into my bedroom. "We won't get to see each other like regular people do. I can wait a few extra days." I put it on speaker, left it on my dresser and started to strip off my clothes. "When can I see you next though?"

"Monday, I have Monday off." He sounded pained. "It's so far from now."

"You come over Monday night, bring wine and I'll make us dinner. What would you like?" I asked him balling up my jeans and shirt and throwing them in my hamper.

"What can you make?" he asked me playfully. I was happy all the sadness had gone from his voice.

"Anything you'd like," I said brushing out my hair.

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Ahhhhh, duck confit, roasted potatoes and a salad of some kind, I would enjoy that. Can you cook that?" he asked skeptically.

"I can cook that. I'm a decent cook actually." I was. I watched the Food Channel more than any other channel and I learned things through trial and error. When I wasn't on tour I had lots of time on my hands so I would continuously cook things until I got it right.

"Okay, I'll bring wine and I'll see you at five on Monday night?"

"It's a date." I smiled as I brought my phone into my bathroom. "And text me whenever you'd like."

"I will. I'm hoping I won't get too drunk on Sunday." He laughed.

"Drunk texts are always the most interesting anyway." I smiled. "I'll try and keep my phone around. I think I'm gonna write a song and I tend to get rather flakey when I write."

"You'll have to play it for me."

"We'll see," I said quietly smirking. "Bye Sherlock."

"Bye Molly." He hung up the phone and I threw mine on my marble bathroom countertop.

I pushed play on my iPhone, took off my underwear and ran a bath. I slid in carefully cursing myself for running as hard as I did. The water was so hot it was turning my skin red but I needed it to take some the pain out of my leg. I could run, the doctor told me I could, but he told me I couldn't run for more than 20 minutes without resting and I couldn't push myself too hard, a light jog at most.

I knew I was going to have to take it easy the next couple of days and that was fine with me. I knew I was going to spend it in my music room. I could hear a new melody in my head and the words he had said to me last night, a fresh pair of eyes. I could make something with that. It would be light and airy, written with like and love on my mind and not rejection and hurt. It wouldn't be ground breaking but it would make me feel better and I wanted to see Sherlock's face when I sang it.

Now all I needed to do was write it. I stayed in the bath until it started to go cold and I began to fall asleep. I stepped out carefully and looked at my naked body in the mirror. A fresh pair of eyes, I hadn't stopped working since my divorce, since my accident, and I knew I needed to work on seeing myself differently. Noticing that I was a different person now, not the one I became with Jim, the person he made me into.

I had gained back all the weight I lost and was now rounder and healthy looking, not skin and bone like I used to be. I had way more tattoos covering over half of my body. My scar was a healthy peachy pink color on the side of my thigh measuring about four inches in length. I had very fine lines around my eyes but nothing too alarming and my hair was shiny and lustrous. I was lucky to have a lifetime full of professionals taking care of my skin and hair to make it look like I had never aged. I had, though. I wasn't the fresh faced 18 year old who married a movie star, I wasn't the busted up 24 year old lying in a hospital bed or the weeping 25 year old divorcee.

Who was I now? I liked what I saw, I looked younger than the 29 I would be in March. I had everything I wanted, a successful career, more awards than I could ever have dreamed to have, I was healthy, beautiful, talented, I had the best friends in the world and a family who loved me. I was so much better than I was nearly four years ago and that thought made me smile. I put on some yoga pants and the first t-shirt I could find and went into my living room and whipped out my laptop.

I typed 'Red Red Red' into YouTube and watched the video for the first time in two and a half years. The woman in the video was a mess. She looked like me and sounded like me but that wasn't who I was anymore. I didn't have the burning loss and heartache behind my eyes anymore.

I wanted to be seen with a fresh pair of eyes. His eyes. I wanted this to happen. I hadn't been so sure about something concerning another person since I had met Jen and never this sure with anyone romantically. Not since Jim but I knew this was different. I knew it would take me some time to get used to Sherlock, tell him all the things I needed to tell him so he would understand why I couldn't completely let go of Jim, why he would from time to time see utter sadness flash over my eyes. I knew I could be happy again, I knew I wanted to share all the blessings in my life with someone and Jen was right, why couldn't it be Sherlock?

I felt excitement in my chest and the giddiness of a new crush.

I walked into my music room and shut the door. I found a pen and pad of paper and wrote down 'if just for tonight darling, let's get lost' and pinned it to my cork board. I went to my piano with the pen and paper and sat down and started playing the melody I had in my head.

In the past when I wrote songs the process encompassed my whole life and this time was no different. I wrote the lyrics with the basic tune in mind and then wrote the rest of the music around that. Adding an acoustic guitar, backing vocals, wind chimes and echoing the piano I had managed to produce a decent rough track to go off of when it came to actually recording the album. I grabbed food when I was hungry, slept when I was tired and was completely unaware of the passage of time. I would get so lost in the music, so dedicated to perfecting the sound that a day or a week would pass and I couldn't tell the difference.

When I was awoken by Jen nudging me awake with her foot, I had no idea how long I had been writing and composing for. In that time I had finished 'Fresh Pair of Eyes' and had come up with a little something for 'Let's Get Lost' as I was calling it.

"Molly, where the fuck have you been?" Jen said making a face of disgust. "It smells like something died in here."

"I was writing. I don't really think about hygiene," I said sitting up rubbing my eyes. "What day is it?"

"Monday."

"Monday the what? The 13th?" I said sitting upright quickly. "Oh my god the Golden Globes were yesterday! Did you win?" I said standing to give her a hug.

She stopped me with outright arms and took a step back. "I did but please don't touch me. Go have a shower and I'll try to make it smell like you don't have nine hundred cats in here."

I stood and walked past her and she made a gagging sound. "Wait, I have to go to the grocery and get things for my dinner with Sherlock."

"What do you need?" she asked keeping a safe distance from me.

"Duck, potatoes and things to make a salad of some kind."

"I'll take care of that. Please clean yourself and change your clothes, go." She pointed in the direction of the bathroom.

I ran into the living room first and grabbed my phone looking at the time. "It's one, what are you doing up?" I shouted as I closed to the bathroom behind me and stripped down.

"I haven't been to sleep yet but I have had eight red bulls." She laughed maniacally and made a woo-hoo noise.

I turned on some music and showered quickly.

I came out to Jen playing _Grand Theft Auto_ on a Playstation. I stopped and felt my eyes narrow. "Did I always have a Playstation?"

She looked over at me. "I had my PA go get you one."

"Did you get all my food stuffs?" I asked wandering into the kitchen and pulling out pans.

"Yep," she answered me absentmindedly as she played the game.

"How long was I in the shower for?" I asked in disbelief that she managed to do this in such a short amount of time.

"I am very efficient." She threw the controller onto the coffee table and walked over to my kitchen sitting on the chairs on the opposite side of the counter. "So you're cooking for him huh? You never cook for me," she said looking away from me like she was offended.

"Well, I'm not trying to sleep with you," I said winking at her.

"Ooooooo, so you think you're gonna get laid tonight?" she asked with a devious smile.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not, no, I was being cheeky." I started scoring the duck and preheated the oven. "I just want to impress him, I've got game, you know."

"Molly you don't need game, you're a girl. Guys need game to get laid but you are the gatekeeper. You're game is your breasts and vagina," she said smiling cheerfully at me.

I made a noise of disgust. "I want to have game. I want to work for him to like me. I want to woo him."

Jen gave me a look of annoyance. "He is wooed Molly. I just spent an entire fucking week with him blathering on about you. 'Oh her hair is like silk and her skin glows bright like the sun, blah blah blah.' You wooed him, he's wooed."

I felt a blush creep into my cheeks. "Did he really say that about me?"

"No, but it was along those lines. He talks about you a lot. Those things I just said are how I feel about you. You really do have the softest hair." She smiled warmly.

"Awe, you're so sweet but I still want to woo him." I finished seasoning the duck and put it in my oven. I grabbed my phone actually looking at texts and messages. "Holy God, I have 123 text messages and 80 missed calls. How is that even possible?" I asked in disbelief.

"Half of those are from me." Jen said looking at her phone as her eyes went wide. "Here's your boy dancing like a boss."

She flipped her phone towards me and there was a picture of Sherlock dancing with what looked like Michael Fassbender wearing sunglasses. "Is that Michael Fassbender? I didn't know they were friends." I said smiling at the photo.

"Neither did I but, you know, I don't care," she said giving me bitch eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you go home and get some sleep?" I said standing.

"Yeah, I have work tomorrow." She stretched and walked towards the elevator.

"I'm glad you won and thank you for the food and Playstation," I said motioning towards the TV.

"You're welcome. Have fun tonight." She stepped onto the elevator.

I went to get my phone and opened my texts and read the 10 I received from Sherlock.

**I am dreading this party – 01/12/14 – 7:00pm**

**Emma Thompson just pinched my cheek – 01/12/14 – 7:52pm**

**The gin and tonics are amazing. I'm not sure what gin they are using but it is delicious – 01/12/14 – 8:52pm**

**I can't wait to see you tomorrow – 01/12/14 – 9:30pm**

**Got to Give it Up is my jam – 01/12/14 – 10:15pm**

**I love dancing, I really do – 01/12/14 – 11:01pm**

**Michael is the worst influence on me – 01/13/14 – 12:13am**

**You're so pretty – 01/13/14 – 12:15am**

**I'm drunk….. lawlz – 01/13/14 – 1:09am**

**Oh God, please don't read any of the texts I sent you last night – 01/13/14 – 10:30am**

I laughed and called him. He picked up the phone on the first ring and spoke first. "Please tell you deleted all of the texts I sent you," he said embarrassingly, his voice deep and accent thick from what I could only assume was lack of sleep and a mild hangover.

"No sorry, I read them. I'm pleased to hear that you like Marvin Gaye though. How bad is your hangover?" I laid down my couch.

"It's not so bad. I've been drinking water all day getting ready for tonight. Do you still want to get together tonight right?" I loved how insecure he was when it came to me. I made him nervous.

"The duck is cooking as we speak. You still bringing wine?"

"I am. I'm not sure if I'm in the right state to drink it but I am. Did you finish writing your song?"

"I did." Suddenly I felt embarrassed. I was going to have to sing him a song, I didn't have to I wanted to but there was something really intimate about singing a song that you wrote to the person that inspired it and in that particular moment I was terrified.

"I want to hear it."

"I know. I'll play it for you."

There was a moment of silence while we waited for the other to speak. He spoke first. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"See you." I said smiling and hanging up the phone. I went to the kitchen to finish preparing and smiled to see the pie Jen had bought for me in the fridge. Then I went to get ready.

* * *

**On my profile I have linked a picture to how I think Molly looks in this story. In my mind she looks like the actress Emilia Clarke. I have posted it if you'd like to take a look and if not please feel free to imagine her any which way you like. **

**I have no idea how Hollywood works. This is the way I want it to work for the purposes of my story so if it's wrong please forgive me. **

**I really liked this chapter. I'm not sure why but so far this was my favorite one to write.  
**

**Reviews are appreciated and cherished.**

**Songs: **

**Red Red Red -Fiona Apple**

**Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth - The Dandy Warhols**

**Got to Give It Up - Marvin Gaye **


	5. Fresh Pair of Eyes

**SHERLOCK**

I changed three times. I never thought much about clothes before or why it mattered but I wanted to impress Molly and everything looked weird on me. Nothing fit correctly, at least I didn't think it did. I settled on black dress pants, black loafers, and a deep plum dress shirt.

My hair was a mess, the only thing I could do to tame it was slick it back but it looked like I was trying too hard. So I just ended up leaving it as a curly disarray around my head.

I took the white wine out of the fridge and stared at the flowers I had bought her on the counter and shook my head. I had gone way overboard. A dozen roses was something you bought a girlfriend. What was I thinking?

I looked at my watch and sighed. I was already 15 minutes late and couldn't decide if I should bring the flowers or not. I spent four more minutes trying to decide until I grabbed the wine, the flowers, my leather jacket and left.

It took me 10 minutes to get to the lobby of Molly's condo and I went up to Scott and told him I was here to see her. He made a quick call to Molly, I could only assume, and I was escorted the elevator and let up.

The second the doors closed I was freaking out. This girl was way out of my league. I was boring. I had nothing interesting to say. I didn't go out and do things unless I had to and she'd find that out soon enough and she'd move on. The wine was wrong, the flowers were wrong, the shirt – purple what the fuck was I thinking? This was going to be a catastrophe and then the doors opened and I forgot everything.

She was standing there, barefoot, her hair was down in soft brown waves and she had put on makeup, not a lot but just enough to play up her features. She was wearing a flowing dark purple satin tank top and black skinny jeans. She was playing some music I had never heard before. It was soulful, airy and sung by an emotionally male voice.

_Ignore everybody else/We're alone now_

I realized that her whole life was probably scored and she chose this music carefully, for us, for this moment because all I wanted to do was kiss her.

She looked up through her lashes, smiled devilishly and that was it. I placed the wine and flowers on the ground, pulled off my jacket discarding it without looking and pulled her towards me. She wasn't tense like last time; she was relaxed and pushed herself into me as our mouths met. I felt her mouth open and her tongue brush along my lower lip as she stood on her tippy toes to try and match my height.

I tried to hold her tighter, push my mouth harder against hers. I tangled my hand in her hair; it was as soft as it looked, smelling like coconuts. The tip of her tongue lightly pushed its way into my mouth and brushed along my own. She tried to push herself closer to me, wrapping her arms around my neck nearly pulling herself up so her face would be parallel to mine.

I bent down and picked her up, wrapping her legs around my waist as I slipped my tongue into her mouth carrying her to the kitchen counter, setting her down and pulling her close to me so she was nearly teetering at the edge. We kissed feverishly, our tongues exploring the others until she breathed in deep and pulled away from me, both of us breathing heavily as our forehead met. "Hi," she sighed out.

I laughed. "Hi." My hands fingered the ends of her hair.

"We match." She pulled on my shirt and I laughed, noting that our shirts were exactly the same color as I took her face in my hands and kissed her.

"You make me crazy," I breathed, kissing her again. "I haven't stopped thinking about you all week. I don't understand."

"I was actually thinking about that. Why you?" she whispered. "Out of all the men that have tried to date me or court me, why you? And I decided that maybe, sometimes, things are just … right." She smiled and kissed me. "Are you hungry?" she asked pushing me away and jumping off the counter.

"I'm starving and it smells amazing in here," I said walking to grab the wine and flowers. "I brought you these."

Her eyes lit up. "You got me flowers!" I saw her cheeks flush. "Look at you, making this is a real date." She pushed herself on her tip toes and kissed me. "Thank you, they're lovely." She took them from me and pulled a vase from a cupboard. "Do you mind pouring me a glass of wine?" she asked. "Glasses are in that cupboard." She motioned with her head as she began clipping the stems of the roses and arranging them in the vase.

"You're really good at that," I remarked placing the glass of wine beside her. "Arranging the flowers I mean."

She shrugged and took a sip of her wine. "I get a lot of flowers from record labels and record producers and people just trying to kiss my ass but never from boys I like." She winked and placed the flowers on her dining room table which I now noticed was half set.

She walked back over and pulled everything out of the oven. I watched her as she began dishing up the food and realized that I had never met anyone so confident and so unsure at the same time as Molly Hooper. Her movements were precise but I could see in her eyes she was second guessing herself, completely unsure of how this was going to turn out.

After the duck and the potatoes were dished, she brought the plates to the table. "Sit," she ordered as she grabbed salad and her wine and joined me.

After we had served the salad, she motioned for me to start and she did the same. I took the first bite of the duck and hesitantly put it in my mouth. Even though it smelled amazing I was afraid it was going to be bad and I didn't want to have to lie to her when she asked me how it was. The second it hit my tongue I let out a moan. I loved food, more importantly I loved really well made food and this was very well made food. "This is really good."

She smiled and took a sip of wine. "Thank you. I spend a lot of time inside so I'm really good at domestic things for lack of a better word. You play till you find out what works. Cooking and music are very much alike when you think about it."

"Well, I appreciate your talent, talents. You seem to be good at everything," I said popping a potato in my mouth.

She shook her head quickly. "Noooooooo, no, I suck at a lot of things. I am terrible at sports. I can run and I can't even do that very well anymore but if you ask me to play pretty much anything, I will fail miserably." She put a piece of duck in her mouth. "I'm also a terrible actor. I could never do what you do."

"I'm sure you aren't as bad as you think you are at either of those things," I said wiping my mouth with a napkin. "You keep a very neat place, is that what you mean by domestic things?"

"Yeah, I am a little bit of neat freak unless I'm writing then I kind of let things go. Music is my kryptonite; I kind of go crazy and abandon everything for it. It's really unhealthy."

"You produce something amazing so being a little unhealthy is okay." I winked. I ate a few more bites and asked, "Are you going to sing for me tonight?"

I watched her face flush and she smiled an embarrassed smile. "I have the recording but I could sing it to you live. It'll just be a little stripped down. You can choose."

"Do you not want sing for me?" I asked placing my cutlery on my now cleaned plate.

She shook her head. "It's not that, it's just nerve racking when you sing a song to the person that inspired it." Her flush deepened and she took a long sip of her wine.

"I inspired the song you wrote. Is it the 'let's get lost' one?" I questioned trying to contain my excitement that she had written a song that had anything to do with me.

"No, but I did start working on that one. The one I just wrote is called 'Fresh Pair of Eyes'. You made me realize I needed to see myself differently and I decided the idea of that would make a pretty good song. So thank you for that." She grabbed my hand and squeezed. "Are you full? Do you want more?" she asked letting go of my hand and picking up my plate.

"I'm full, thank you. That really was amazing," I said taking another sip of wine.

"I have pie for later," she said rinsing off the plates.

"What kind of pie?" I inquired standing up and leaning against the opposite side of the counter.

Her brow furrowed. "I don't know actually." She dried her hands off on a dish towel and opened her fridge. "It's apple which is my favorite kind of pie." She said closing the fridge and leaning up against it. She breathed in deep and looked at me. "Let me go play you this fucking song. I'm not going to be able to relax until I do it. So come on." She stepped forward and grabbed my hand dragging me into her music room.

"Sit on the couch." I did as I was told and watched as she paced for a couple of seconds and then looked at me in utter confusion. "Why am I so fucking nervous?" She ran her hand through her hair.

I grinned. "It's because you like me. Take a deep breath."

She closed her eyes with a small smile on her face and took a deep breath in and then out. "Do you want to hear the recording or live?" she asked opening her eyes.

"Live," I said like she was crazy to even ask.

She sat down at the piano and looked up at me. "So this isn't going to be as grand as the actually recording, it's more music based than lyric based. You know what it's probably better if we just listen to the recording so you get a better idea of the whole sound and-"

I cut her off. "Molly, just play the song," I said as gently as I could.

She took another deep breath and nodded. "Right, yeah, okay." She closed her eyes and started to play.

The piano was simple and light as she began to hum along to the melody. She introduced lower notes to give the song more weight and feeling. Then the whole song turned and the notes were upbeat and whimsical and then she began to sing.

_'Cause I want to be seen/With a fresh pair of eyes/The single white tree/In a black hood of disguise_

Her voice was high, airy and nearly strained but beautiful. She opened her eyes and looked at me as the music took on weight again.

_I want, I want to be seen/With a fresh pair of eyes/The single, the single white tree/In a black hood of disguise_

I felt my heart quicken. There wasn't a way to describe what it felt like to see someone, just a few feet away from you sing a song that was inspired by you and so personal to them. I was the fresh pair of eyes and I saw her exactly the way she needed to be seen.

_I miss God, I miss God/I miss God, I miss God_

The music became dark again and she was humming again as she closed her eyes again as she let the dark notes become light and then it was over. More music than lyrics, feeling throughout, simple, stunning, beautiful, caring, detailed, soft but there was the pain underneath it all. This was the way I saw her at this exact moment and I knew I would see her in many other ways because this wasn't something fleeting, not for me.

The way I felt in that particular moment was the way I wanted to feel for the rest of my life. My chest swelling, my head dizzy, her voice still lingering in the air. I knew this was crazy, every ounce of logic in my brain told me that to feel this way about her so soon was crazy but I didn't want to think. I wanted to jump and take everything that came with her. I knew it wouldn't be easy, I knew things would spring up and try to break us apart but the thought of those things made me want her more. The best things in life were never easy. I saw her with the fresh pair of eyes she needed but I wanted to be seen through her eyes that were looking at me right now through impossibly long lashes.

"You hated it." The insecurity fluttered behind her eyes and she looked away from me. "It's a weird song, I know."

I stood up and moved towards her shaking my head. "No. No, I loved it. I've just never had a song sung specifically to me before. It's overwhelming in a way I hadn't expected." I sat down beside her on the piano bench mirroring the position we had taken a little over a week ago. "I… it was… I loved it," I said smiling before leaning in to kiss her. "Are you religious?" I asked as I broke the kiss.

She laughed. "No, not at all, when I was writing the song I thought that to be seen anew, with a fresh pair of eyes the wrongs I have committed and the wrongs that have been done against me need to be washed away, like sins. I miss God. It sounds a lot more poetic than the new guy I'm seeing likes me and that makes me feel good." She laughed and rubbed the back of her neck.

I felt my brows furrow and I laughed. "Did you just compare me to God?"

"Yeah I guess I did cause I'm a ridiculous human being." She laughed from her belly and grabbed my hand. "Do you want pie?" she asked, standing.

"I would love some pie," I said following her.

She broke away from me and took the pie out of the fridge and pre-heated the oven. I brought over her wine from the table and sat on the opposite side of the counter.

She grabbed her wine and looked up at me with a smirk. "So, how were the Golden Globes?" she asked laughing.

"Well, as you can tell from my texts they were boozy," I said with a tone of embarrassment.

"It also looks like from this picture they were dancy." She turned her phone in my direction to show me the picture of Michael and me dancing the night before. Harry, my PR agent, had called me to tell me this photo existed but that I shouldn't worry about it because most people thought it was awesome. I hadn't seen it till now.

I rubbed my eyes in embarrassment. "Yeah, I like dancing. I always have and there was a lot of gin involved and Mike loves to party."

"He should have won last night," she said with a slight edge of annoyance in her voice.

"I agree."

"So should have Steven McQueen." She turned when the oven beeped and but the pie inside.

"I agree."

She picked up her wine glass. "I haven't been to a Golden Globes party in a really long time. I used to go all the time when I was married." She finished the glass.

I shrugged. "It makes sense. Jim's constantly nominated."

"Yeah he is." She drifted off, looking away from me nodding and poured herself another glass of wine.

James Moriarty was an actor most actors were envious of. He had worked on stage in his early twenties, was nominated for a Tony and then broke into movies with a string of indie hits in the early 2000's. He won his first Oscar at the age of 30 for _Madness_. The movie was about a murder mystery novelist who was starting to believe his characters from his popular book series were coming to life and trying to kill him. The movie was frightening and Moriarty's performance was paranoid, subtle, and absolutely riveting. He had been nominated countless times after that, had led massive movie franchises and married the most talented woman in music.

When the story broke that he had been drinking and driving and he and his wife had been in a car crash that had put her in coma for a week, most people had been shocked. I was shocked. I had met Jim a couple of times and he had been nothing but nice to me. The encounters had always been brief but he never seemed like he was ever drunk or high but he _was_ a good actor. If I lost parts half the time it was to Moriarty, even now. He was working more than ever.

"Let's play 20 questions." She beamed. "I think it's the fastest way to learn a lot about someone. I play it with almost everyone I meet."

"Okay, do you want to go first?" I asked.

"What's your favorite color?" She came around the counter to sit in the chair opposite me.

"Green, and you?"

"Blood red."

"That's terrifying," I said taking a sip of my wine.

"It's a beautiful color, your go."

"What movie always makes you cry?" I asked her.

"_Lost in Translation_. I think it's sad that they finally find each other and they can't be together, in one way or another." She shrugged and looked away from me.

"I always cry when I watch _It's a Wonderful Life_. When they cheer to George Bailey the richest man in town, I cry every time."

She was smiling sweetly at me. "That is the cutest thing ever," she paused. "You're favorite food."

I thought on this one for a long time. "This one's hard."

"That's what she said." I looked over at her slowly and she was staring at me with a huge grin on her face. "Sorry continue."

"Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies," I finally said.

"That's a good one but I would have to go with bacon cheese burgers, those are my favorite food." The oven beeped and she went to get the pie out of the oven.

"What piece of clothing do you feel most comfortable in?" I asked as she pulled plates from the cupboard.

"Honestly?" She asked cutting into the pie. "I feel most comfortable in nothing." She took a pie server and dug the first piece out and placed it on a plate. "I'm all for keeping my clothes on in front of a camera but in my personal life the less clothes I have on the happier I am. Especially pants, pants were created by the devil." She went to the freezer and pulled out ice cream and put a scoop beside the pie and slid it to me with a fork.

I sat silently and stared at her. "So I guess your hatred of clothes bodes well for me." I winked at her taking a bite of the pie.

Her eyes narrowed and she gave me an annoyed smile. "You have miles to go before you benefit from my hatred of clothes, Holmes."

"We'll see," I muttered. "I feel most comfortable in well worked in jeans and a t-shirt."

"You look good in jeans and a t-shirt." She came around to eat her pie.

"Thank you," I said blushing.

"Last song you were listening to on your iPod?" she mumbled through a mouth full of pie.

I pulled my phone out of pocket and checked my iPod. "'Wild is the Wind' by Nina Simone."

She looked shocked. "Really? Wow, C.K. Dexter Haven you have unsuspected depth."

"What?" I questioned completely unsure of what she was talking about.

She shook her head. "Never mind, I really like that song. Most people don't randomly listen to it. I was shocked." She took another piece of pie and put it in her mouth. "The last song we were listening to was 'Came Back Haunted' but Nine Inch Nails."

"You're a Trent Reznor fan?" I asked.

"Huge."

"_The Social Network_ must have made your brain explode."

"When I left that movie I had no blood left in my body my boner was so huge."

I stared at her for about four seconds before responding with a punctuated, "What?"

I watched her face flush. "I keep forgetting you aren't used to the way I talk. Yes, I really liked _The Social Network_ a lot," she said licking off her fork. "Guilty pleasure movie?" she said changing the subject.

"I love _Clue_. I've seen it now at least a hundred times."

"I've never seen _Clue_." She took one of the last bites of her pie.

I gasped. "What?!" I grasped her leg just above her knee. "We are going to watch it sooner or later. I'll bring it over," I said taking my plate and hers and placing them in the sink.

"Mine is _Freddy vs. Jason_. I always watch it when it's on TV. It's so awful but I love it. Oh double feature," she said pointing at me with a goofy smile.

"What _Clue_ and _Freddy vs. Jason_?" I said coming back to her side of the counter.

"Yeah, why not?"

I stared at her and shrugged. "I can't think of a single valid reason why not."

"That's our next date, double feature." She leaned forward and kissed me before hopping up and walking to the couch and plopping herself down.

I followed, sitting next to her as she stretched out and put her feet in my lap. "Favorite book?" I started tracing her tattoos with my fingers. On one foot she had a cartoon of Audrey Hepburn and on the other a drawing of Ariel from _The Little Mermaid_.

"_Twilight_," she said grinning at me looking at me through her lashes.

I felt my brows furrow. "Really?"

She laughed. "No, but I do like _Twilight_, another guilty pleasure." She looked away from me and started tapping her lip. "Favorite book, favorite book, it has to be _East of Eden_."

"My favorite book is _Catcher in the Rye_. I've read it five or six times."

"Do you know how to play any instruments?" she asked.

I nodded. "Violin and guitar sort of, I can play well enough but I'm not great or anything."

"I can teach you," she said smiling, trying to rub her feet together in my hands.

"I would love lessons. You know how to play everything."

She shook her head. "Not everything, guitar, bass, piano, violin, drums and I'm learning to play the accordion. Of course I excel at the piano and then the guitar. I know how to play the others enough to get away with it."

"You were playing Bach the other day. You know how to play the violin," I said resting my hands on her shin.

"It makes me happy you knew what I was playing." She smiled.

"Your favorite flower?" I asked.

"Red roses, you nailed that one right on the head tonight." She smiled a sweet half smile. "Your favorite flower?"

"Tulips, we always had them in the house; they're my mother's favorite." There was a brief pause and I felt a weird calm come over me and I realized I was completely relaxed in her presence.

"How many questions is that?"

"I don't know." I said looking at her. Taking in all her features; trying to memorize her face.

Her eyes wandered around the condo as we let an amount of silence pass between the both of us and I was surprised that it didn't feel uncomfortable. Her gaze came back to me. "Do you want to watch a movie and then make out after an acceptable amount of time has passed?" she asked with a skewed smile on her and her eyebrows raised.

I smiled at her and then tried to brush it off like it was no big deal. "Yeah that sounds good. What do you want to watch?" I asked standing.

"Does it really matter?" she giggled.

"That's a good point." I picked up the nearest movie and put it in the player.

She shifted to rest against my side and I put my arm around her shoulder. I ended up putting on _Cabin in the Woods_ which I had never seen. The problem was it was a good movie and before we knew it, it was over.

She stood and stretched. "I'm gonna put on a movie which plot is easy to ignore."

I nodded. "That's probably a good idea," I said un-tucking my shirt. I didn't see what she put on and she walked back to me and instead of sitting beside me she straddled me.

She looked down at me as her hair fell to one side and brushed the side of my face. She smiled as she slowly leaned down and kissed me. The kiss was long and deep as she lowered herself onto my lap draping one arm over the back over the couch as her fingers weaved themselves into my hair.

My hands slowly moved up her thighs to her hips as I dug my fingers into her skin, our kiss intensified and our mouths opened. There was no coyness, just want and eagerness, our tongues met in the middle as she pushed herself closer to me.

My hand gripped the hair at the base of her neck pulling it back, exposing the smooth length of her neck. I pressed my lips to her alabaster skin as she let out a deep moan strangled by the angle of her throat. She smelled clean like soap and a little like grapefruits. I wanted to taste her and my tongue traced along her neck and jawline up to her mouth where I lightly bit her bottom lip and pulled away from her.

Her eyes opened slowly staring at me with lust as she rotated her hips, rubbing herself against my erection. She licked her lips slowly as she moved in to kiss me again and my hands started on her hips and rose, pushing her shirt up until my hands landed on the bare skin of her ribs. My fingers started rubbing circles on her back as she undid three buttons of my shirt and slipped her hands inside.

The feeling of her cold hands on my chest made me hiss and made her kiss me harder, pushing her hips deeper into me. She let out another moan between kisses and that's when I heard it. Her voice, the voice I would know anywhere, the voice that I had heard for nearly nine years. Irene.

I parted from Molly and looked at her with wide eyes. "What are we watching?"

She stared at me for a few moments longer, her whole body still in make-out mode until her eyes widened like mine and she uttered, "Oh shit."

I looked passed her and there was my ex-girlfriend on screen trying to seduce Matthew McConaughey in the romantic comedy _Take a Number for Love_. "Do you actually like this movie?" I looked up at Molly who looked slightly pained.

"I saw it when I was 16 and McConaughey is shirtless for the whole movie and talks in a Southern accent so thick you can't understand what he's saying. I like it cause it's shit, not because it's good and not because of Irene Adler. I totally forgot about you and her." She shifted her weight to the left and flopped off of me on to the couch.

I rubbed my face and tried to find the right words to use. I ended up using the most ineloquent ones possible. "You know that saying bitches be crazy? Well that's Irene in a nutshell." I rubbed my face again, leaning forward as my elbows rested on my knees.

Irene wasn't always crazy, she was fine for the first seven years that we dated, it was in the last two years when my fame started to eclipse her own that she went off the deep end. Everything made her jealous. She accused me of cheating on her on a daily basis and she started faking pregnancy scares to bring us closer together. In the end she ended up cheating on me with one of her co-stars and had been trying to win me back for the past ten months since our break up. She thought the best way to do that was to spam my email on a daily basis with naked pictures of herself. I deleted at least three emails daily and if she found out what my phone number was, I would get upward of 100 texts an hour from her, all inappropriate.

"Why is she crazy?" Molly asked placing her hand on my arm.

I looked at her knowing that I didn't want to get into this with her tonight. My relationship woes were nothing compared hers but tonight was not the night. There would be a time and a place but not now. "Would you be mad if I didn't want to talk about it right now?"

She laughed. "Believe me I know all about not wanting to talk about an ex. There'll be a time and a place but not tonight." She leaned over and turned off the TV.

"Isn't difficult for you to watch movies with Jim in it?" I asked angling my body to face her.

She looked at the floor and stared pensively. "Sometimes. Half the time he loses himself in the performance and I stop seeing him and see the character instead but yeah, mostly I just stay away from his films." She looked at me and smiled.

I nodded slowly. "I guess comparing Irene to Jim isn't the same thing." I felt a smirk pull at the corner of my mouth. "She's not a very good actress."

She smiled and her tongue came out quickly to wet her lips before she spoke. "Well, come on now, she was good in that one thing that time." Her smile grew.

I started laughing and she joined in. "Is it weird to just talk about our exes? Isn't that a topic that new couples usually avoid?" I asked as my laughter subsided.

She shrugged. "They were a part of our lives and them being a part of our lives led us to this point and I'm pretty happy with this point in my life. I'm not jealous of her and what you had with her because it's over and now you'll have something different with me; don't ever feel weird talking about your past, not to me."

"So you're sure you want to keep doing this?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I like you and I want to spend time with you till I don't anymore. Let's not overthink it, overthinking ruins everything."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay." I moved towards her grabbing her and kissing her deeply wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her towards me. She pushed her legs out so she could lie down and moved so that I was lying on top of her, supporting my weight so that I didn't crush her.

We made out on the couch for a long time. I hadn't done what we were doing in nearly 10 years, just making out to make out. It made me feel like a teenager, everything over the clothes, panting, swollen lips, my erection awkwardly rubbing against her thigh. I had forgotten how amazing it was to date someone, for everything to be equally exciting and awkward at the same time.

She parted from me, panting. "What time is it?"

I looked at my watch and sat up quickly. "It's 10:30. I have a 6:30 call time tomorrow."

She nodded while wiping her mouth and straightening out her hair and clothes. She smiled. "I forgot how much I loved kissing."

I smiled and kissed her one more time before getting up and grabbing my coat. "So, I should just text you when I want to see you?"

"Or me you. As you know, I'm in between albums right now which means I literally have nothing to do all day." She stood, following me to the elevator.

"My schedule varies but I'm in L.A. till the end of March," I said adjusting my jacket and popping the collar.

She bit her lip and looked away from me slipping her hands into her back pocket. "Lock?" she said quietly. "Do you mind if we just keep doing what we are doing? Sex wise, I mean kissing doesn't hurt anyone but once we start using our mouths and hands for other things, stuff gets complicated and I need some time with that." She looked at me bashfully through her lashes.

I smiled and took her face in my hands. "Whatever you want. The kissing is great, amazing. Really just hearing your voice, hearing your stories, that's all I need." I leaned in and kissed her deeply, breathing in her smell, soap, grapefruit and coconuts.

She let out a noise that sounded like mix between a laugh and a sigh. "Awe Lock, you're so sweet you make sugar taste just like salt."

The elevator door opened and stepped backwards towards it pulling her with me, kissing her the whole way. She broke away and step back into her apartment. "Later gator," she said smirking as the doors closed between us.

* * *

**I learned in this chapter that describing music is difficult. **

**I want to thank my beta Midnight Angel414 for being awesome.**

**Thank you to the guest that gave me my first review and thank you to anyone and everyone who is reading. It makes me want to write more if I know someone is enjoying it. **

**Songs**

**Retrograde – James Blake**

**Fresh Pair of Eyes – Brooke Waggoner**

**Wild is the Wind – Nina Simone **

**Came Back Haunted – Nine Inch Nails **

**I appreciate reviews, like I said if you like the story reviews fuel me to write more! **


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